Courting Trouble
by Chellerbelle
Summary: Sequel to The Great Hobby Search. After a fight with the Reavers goes viral, Rogue's past catches up with her. So does the media. Things are heating up between Rogue and Gambit too, despite both of them knowing that's one downward spiral they really need to avoid.
1. vs Reavers round 1

**AN:** Hi All! This is the sequel to _The Great Hobby Search_. I would recommend reading both that and _The Irony_ before reading this one, but it should be possible to enjoy this if you haven't.

One of these days I'm going to come up with a good title for this series.

Updates will be **weekly**.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: vs Reavers round 1**

It was October, and Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and Kitty were out shopping for Halloween. Jubilee was determined to throw an awesome Halloween party, and was busy going through the abundance of decorations available to figure out what she wanted.

Kitty needed a brain break and decided to tag along just to get out of the house. She had caught Jubilee's enthusiasm, and the two bounced ideas off each other every time they found an inspiring item in the party store.

Gambit was always willing to encourage Jubilee in all her endeavours, especially the ones that involved giving him an excuse to cook, flirt, or annoy Logan. He was currently in the cooking section, checking out Halloween themed cake pans, cooking molds, and cookie cutters with fiendish delight.

That left Rogue to feel like she was the only adult in the group. It would have been a lot more fun, if she wasn't spending the whole time checking out the price tags and reminding the others that they had to stay in budget.

"Just how many of these are you going to need?" Rogue asked Gambit dubiously with one of the six-piece silicone trays in her hand.

Gambit glanced over at her and grinned. "Oh, don't worry, chere. I'm probably not going to get anything here. I'm just seeing what kind of things are available. Most of these are too small or too few to be worth getting. I'll go online later and see what's available for our kind of mass production."

"Oh good," Rogue said. Perhaps she wasn't the only adult there after all.

Since realising that he'd never lost control of his powers while in the kitchen, Gambit had gone looking for any excuse to cook things. He was currently doing kitchen duty 3 dinners in the week, insisted on doing 'special occasion' meals, and occasionally the night owl would bake bread overnight. He rarely got to eat any of the bread he'd cooked, since he always went to bed straight after and the breakfast crowd would make short work of it.

"Jubes and Kitty going a little nuts, are they?" Gambit asked with a knowing grin.

"Jubes I expected," Rogue lamented. "But when Kitty said she was gonna come too I thought I was getting an ally."

Gambit chuckled. Rogue sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. He automatically put his arm around her. She smiled faintly, though he couldn't see it.

It had been a year since Rogue and Gambit had met in the queue for the Cure. Sometime in that year, despite dating Bobby for most of it, she had fallen for Gambit. He was just so damned charming, sweet, and thoughtful. He did come across as a bad boy at times, but many of her friends were convinced it was just an act. Rogue might have agreed with them initially, but three months ago he admitted to being a professional thief and she found that she actually believed his claim.

"Ugh," she said as she lifted her head back from his shoulder. "I suppose I should go back to reigning them in."

He kissed the top of her head with another chuckle, and released his arm. "Don't let their madness infect you."

She sighed. "I don't suppose you want to go make out in a corner somewhere instead?"

"Oh, I definitely want to do that," Gambit replied as he pulled away. "But I'm not going to."

"Yeah," Rogue said as Gambit pointedly went back to looking at the cookware. "I knew you were going to say that."

"Then why'd you ask?"

"The same reason why you flirt with me."

"Touche."

Rogue smiled a little, and then left to go find Jubilee and Kitty.

The first nine months of Gambit's stay at Xavier's had been spent looking for a suitable hobby to help teach him how to control his emotions. It had to be a solo activity, preferably one that he could engage in at a moment's notice, not too active or too passive. Rogue was pleased that she'd been able to help him figure out that his hobby was cooking.

She just wished she had seen more progress in his power control in the last three months. But as far as she could tell, the only change had been was that he would start reciting recipes when he was having trouble with a large contact-based charge.

When Rogue found Jubilee and Kitty, they had filled up two trolleys with stuff, almost to the brim. Rogue's eyes widened and her face went pale.

"And just one more of those, I think—" Kitty cut herself off at the sight of Rogue and grinned, seeing her staring in shock at the trolleys. "It's okay, Rogue. You don't have to count it. I've been doing that, and we're in budget."

Rogue slowly lifted her head to look at Kitty. "I was gone five minutes!"

Jubilee chuckled wickedly as she grabbed another packet of bats from the shelf. "That's all it takes."

"On the bright side, we should be able to use most of this stuff again next year," Kitty said. "I honestly can't believe the school didn't have more Halloween stuff."

"Well, they did," Jubilee said as she began pushing one of the trolleys towards the exit. "But most of it was broken and worn out. I'll be using the stuff that's still good, though."

"That's something at least. You're ready to go then?" Rogue asked, and when they confirmed, added: "Alright, I'll go get Remy then."

"Don't take too long flirting," Kitty called after her teasingly. "Even with all this, we're not going to be at the check out forever!"

"Hardy har har!"

* * *

"This is an awesome shop," Jubilee said gleefully, shortly thereafter as they left laden with their purchases. "I wish I knew it existed earlier. I know where I'm going next time."

"And there'll definitely be a next time," Kitty replied with a knowing grin.

The store was part of a line of stores that curled around a mutual parking lot like a horseshoe. They were parked further away from the party shop than they would've liked (everyone was after Halloween stuff), but had still managed to get a spot next to the main foot path. Rogue unlocked the car, and Jubilee and Gambit began loading up the boot.

They were situated about halfway between the party shop, and a portable hydraulic lift. Its platform was in line with a broken floor-to-ceiling window belonging to a gym above a furniture shop. Kitty was about to comment on this oddity, when a couple of police cars turned into the parking lot.

"I think something's going on," Kitty said cautiously, looking from the police back to the broken window.

As the others looked up, the police cars parked, not directly in front of the gym, but close enough that the intent was clear. Gambit, after a short pause, quickening his loading pace. After parking, the police officers inside exited the cars.

"You need to clear the area," one of the officers said to them.

"Already working on it," Rogue assured them.

The officer didn't reply, simply moved onto the nearest store. More police cars entered the parking lot.

At the same time, there was movement at the broken gym window. A man with a lower half that looked like a tank rolled out onto the lift platform. He was holding a gun in one hand, while the other grabbed the lift controls.

"Freeze!" commanded one of the police officers from behind his car. "Put the gun down, and your hands up!"

Kitty caught her breath. "Reavers. But why in the world would they rob a gym?"

The Reaver set his gun down on the top of his tankish lower half, what qualified as his lap. He held his hands up in the air as the platform lowered.

"More importantly," Gambit said, "why did we buy so much stuff? It really shouldn't take this long to load up the car."

The lift reached the ground and stopped. The Reaver immediately zoomed forward. At the same moment, guns were fired from the broken window at the police. The police fired back, but by that time the tankish Reaver had a whole truck between him and the police.

The four X-Men had dropped and ducked behind the car at the sound of gunfire. There was an additional crack as Gambit's sunglasses broke. Jubilee cried out, for a moment thinking he had been hit.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Gambit was quick to assure them. "That was me who broke my glasses."

"I probably would've broken more than just my glasses," Rogue said wryly.

He flashed her a small smile.

"Okay, I'd say it's past time we got out of here," Kitty said, and held her hand out to Rogue. "I'll drive. I'll do some phasing on the way to make sure we don't get hit."

Rogue nodded and handed her the car keys.

There was no question of getting involved. Just because they'd trained against Reavers in the Danger Room didn't mean that they were ready to go up against the real thing. Likewise, the current situation wasn't a mutant issue. The police were already there, they should let them do their jobs. Right now, the best thing they could contribute was getting Gambit out of it before the inevitable stress of being in a life-threatening situation got everyone blown up.

Gambit opened up the back door of the car, and he and Jubilee got inside, keeping down low. Kitty got into the driver's seat. While her friends were on the move, Rogue took the more dangerous route to the front passenger side via the back of the car, where she stopped to shut the hatch.

It was only a short stop, but it was still far too long.

The Reaver came zooming along the footpath, right towards Rogue, and unnoticed by the police who had their eyes and guns trained on the Reavers in the gym. She had no time to dodge before the Reaver hit her. He stopped as she stumbled, and he grabbed hold of her and yanked her up onto his lap.

His left arm held Rogue pressed against his chest, with her head against his shoulder. Her upper torso was uncomfortably slouched on his lap, with her bum right on the edge where the tank front sloped down. Her knees were bent so that her feet were pressed against the slope in an effort to keep them from falling down and getting hurt by the Reaver's forward movement.

With his right arm, the Reaver picked his gun back up and shot twice into the air, then aimed the gun at Rogue's head.

"Put down your guns, or I blow her brains out," the Reaver demanded, his voice carrying across the parking lot.

After a moment of tense hesitation (and a couple more shots from the Reavers in the gym), the police put down their guns (or at least the ones the Reavers could see). The Reaver who had Rogue drove around back in front of the furniture store while his friends started leaving the gym. Some came from the stairs, but the rest loaded up the lift with bags of their spoils and headed down that way.

Rogue was not interested in just lying there quietly.

Her first thought was to make herself a deadweight against his left arm. But, if her plan worked and his arm dropped her, she would fall over the side and likely right on top of the tank treads. If he was moving at the time that could prove nasty, especially if her loose clothing got caught.

So Rogue went with her second thought. Since the Reaver wanted her pressed against his chest, she gave herself as much leverage as she could to press herself even further into him. Not all at once: she gradually increased the pressure and watched the unmoving aim of the gun. The Reaver was too busy watching the police to realise that his hostage's head was moving out of his gun's line of fire.

The moment Rogue knew the gun was no longer pointed directly at her, she lifted her right hand and rammed it into the Reaver's, forcing his gun upwards and away. The gun fired, but the bullet went right by Rogue and hit the side of the truck instead.

Rogue wrapped her arm further around his gun arm, seeking to disarm him. At the same time, she swung her left hand around and took advantage of his surprise to jam her fingers into his eyes.

With a cry, his left arm released her body and sought to free his eyes His right arm waved wildly, but Rogue's grip on him prevented him from aiming his gun at her.

He grabbed her left hand with his. His eyes were free, if bloody, and didn't see it coming when the back of Rogue's head beat him squarely in the nose.

"Happy Halloween!"

Rogue shut her eyes automatically at the sound of Jubilee's call for celebration. A moment later she heard Jubilee's fireworks going off, and yells from the other Reavers.

Rogue wrenched her left hand free from the Reaver's grip and rolled off the right side, pleased that the Reaver hadn't thought to move anywhere. She opened her eyes as she twisted the Reaver's right arm around, finally forcing him to let go of the gun. She grabbed the gun before it could fall and dashed backwards.

As she looked up (the Reaver swearing at her all the while and trying to see with bloodshot eyes), she saw Kitty running in phase through all the cybernetic prosthetic limbs and removing guns from the other Reavers. In a moment, Kitty was by her side, and she handed her a couple of the guns.

"I officially don't believe any of those movies where an individual is loaded up with a ridiculous amount of guns," Kitty said.

Rogue gave a chuckle and then Kitty took her into phase with her. They stopped by the police barricade and dropped off the guns.

"Here you go officers," Kitty said.

She was barely acknowledged as the police immediately took advantage of the situation to pick up their own guns and move in on the Reavers. Their lack of weapons and disabled prosthetics made them easy to arrest, though not so easy to load up when the police vans showed up. (The tank Reaver proved to be particularly difficult, and they were still working on that when the X-Men left).

Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee (who quickly joined them when the police moved in) stayed to make statements. Kitty very reluctantly gave her name, knowing that they'd all seen her walk through solid objects. She didn't regret getting involved. She could never regret using her powers to save a friend, or anyone for that matter. But she didn't want to start having to account for her every move in case the police ever decided to check her alibi every time there was a burglary.

"Alright. What about your friend in the car?" asked the policewoman who was interviewing them.

The girls looked at each other.

"I'll go get him…" Rogue said slowly. "Um, but he may not have…" she trailed off, not really sure how to say he probably hadn't been watching the fight. It seemed like such an absurd statement.

She hurried over to the car, and his door opened as she closed in. She opened her mouth to greet him, only to see the backseat lit up with magenta light.

"Is this a popcorn situation?" she asked in alarm, referring to the safeword he used during group Danger Room sessions.

Gambit shook his head. "Nah, I deliberately created this one. I thought if I had a physical charge on the go I'd be less likely to make any line-of-sight charges. And I also figured that watching would be less stressful than not."

Rogue nodded. "Okay, yeah, that sounds logical. Look, um, the police want your statement. That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"There aren't any warrants out for my arrest, if that's what you're asking," he replied with a wry grin. "Yeah, just a second…"

He took a deep breath, and a moment later the charge dissolved and he got out of the car. He followed Rogue back to the others. The policewoman caught her breath at the sight of his obviously mutant eyes, but went about her task with professionalism and never made a single comment about them.

* * *

A mere two hours later, Rogue filled up her tray at the buffet in the dining hall. All the food at dinner was, as always, labelled with the ingredients used. The loud, pulsing buzzing in her ear that was bad enough to make that side of her face hurt persuaded her to avoid salt.

Then, instead of taking her usual table, she took her tray into the breakfast nook with the hope that there wouldn't be anyone else with the same idea. The only noise she wanted to deal with right now was something quietly happening in the background, and there was nothing quiet about a school full of teenagers having a meal together.

The breakfast nook was empty but for Gambit who was seated at the bench with his own dinner. He looked up as Rogue walked in.

"Mind if I turn the radio on?" she asked as she set the tray down on the bench next to him.

He shook his head. "Go ahead." He watched as she did so. "Tinnitus acting up?"

Rogue nodded as she adjusted the volume so it was just loud enough to be heard. "Yeah. But I guess having a gun go off that close to your head will give anyone ringing in their ears."

"True! Jubilee's pafs probably didn't help either."

Rogue shook her head as she sat down. "Actually the decibel rating on those got tested ages ago, before you came here. Her low-to-medium powered pafs are all below 80 decibels. It's 80 or 85 decibels that you risk getting hearing loss. Actual fireworks are louder."

"Hmm, well, I guess it would make sense that you would test that," Gambit said thoughtfully as he lifted a bite of food to his mouth. "The team's more likely to be exposed to that kind of danger than people we're fighting, given that we train more than we have real fights."

"Exactly."

They fell silent as they ate, only the radio playing keeping the room from falling completely quiet. Rogue didn't bother questioning why Gambit was eating in the breakfast nook: he always did when he was having a bad day and didn't want to risk blowing up stuff in the dining hall. Rogue supposed that "having to sit by and watch while your friends were in mortal danger and not be able to act without possibly making things worse" qualified as a bad day.

She shuddered. She didn't particularly want to dwell on the fact she she could've quite easily have died today.

"You okay?" Gambit asked. "Other than the ear, I mean?"

Rogue shook her head. "Just not wanting to think about what happened today. The ear is making it difficult." She sighed and pushed her food around her plate. "If you ignore it, it'll go away. Easier said than done."

She sighed again. At least her tinnitus hadn't been the result of hearing damage. Her hearing had checked out fine, so it wasn't spending too much time in noisy environments that had caused it. Dr Ashley Ashton, a friend of Hank McCoy's who had taken on the position of being the resident doctor, insisted that it was likely caused by stress. Given that it showed up not long after Professor Xavier and Scott Summers had died, and Jean Grey had died again, and the future of the school had been in question, Rogue figured "stress" was a fair assessment.

Though, the buzzing hadn't started until after she took the Cure. She was both bitter and suspicious about that timing: she just got rid of the voices in her head, only for them to be replaced by this wretched buzzing. The noises were distinctly different (her voices were like listening to people in a crowded room; the tinnitus sounded more like a buzzing insect stuck in hear ear), and the centre of it had shifted (her voices had been more central; the tinnitus was married to her left ear, though it occasionally spread to her right ear when it was really bad, like now). If it weren't for those differences, Rogue might have suspected the Cure as not being as effective as advertised.

Still, at least her condition could be managed, and unlike many other people with tinnitus, she actually got to enjoy silence occasionally.

"Yeah," Gambit replied softly. "It's not easy to ignore things that ruin your ability to live life."

"No, it's not," she said, and knowing he was thinking about himself more than her at the moment, added: "But at least I don't have to put up with this level of noise 24/7. Some people do. And some people are driven to suicide because of it. Ugh." She shook her head. "It got so bad in the beginning before I got diagnosed that I—"

"Would've cut off your own ear if you thought it would've helped." Gambit smirked at her.

"I see I've told you this story before."

"I was there."

"Oh yeah," Rogue grinned winningly at him. "You were too. Wow, that would've been a year ago. You've been with us a whole year."

"I know. I was there too."

Rogue laughed, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Happy anniversary."

He snickered. "Happy anniversary, chere."

* * *

Rogue woke up the following morning to the sound of her alarm clock. Music played quietly in the background: it had been the only way she'd been able to get any sleep the night before. She dressed and turned her music off as she left.

She arrived shortly before 7am at Tom's Auto Repairs. She wasted no time parking her motorcycle and getting inside, ready to start the day. Which was good, because the work day was more than eager to get started, with all the cars that were getting dropped off for the day before work started for their owners.

"Hey Marie," one of the other mechanics said to her later in the morning once things had calmed down, "saw you on TV last night."

Rogue blinked at Juan in surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah." He frowned. "Well, I saw a woman with a white streak in her hair fighting Reavers anyway. Sure looked like you."

"Oh. Oh!" she exclaimed. "That made the news, did it? Oh, what am I saying, of course it made the news. I should've seen that coming." She shook her head as she wiped her greasy hands on a nearby rag.

Juan grinned at her. "So that was you, huh? You're the one who got taken hostage by that Reaver tank, and then gouged his eyes out."

"Well," Rogue said hesitantly, becoming aware of some of the other mechanics looking in on their conversation. "I wouldn't say I gouged his eyes out since they were still in his head when I left—"

An accusing voice, almost hostile, came from behind. "You're a mutant?"

Rogue turned to see one of the younger mechanics, Will, looking sharply at her. She looked back at him with narrowed eyes, wondering how best to respond.

"Of course she is," Juan said cheerfully. "How else would she be able to take out a Reaver?"

Rogue cracked a grin, still looking at Will. "Actually, I took the Cure."

There was silence for a moment, then:

"Wait, so you beat that guy up without any powers?" Juan asked, and Rogue looked back at him to see his eyes had gone wide. "Not even super strength?"

"Yeah, no powers."

Juan opened his mouth to reply, then shut it and shook his head.

"No powers?" Will asked disbelievingly.

"No powers," Rogue replied as she sauntered over to the workbench, looking out for the tool she needed for her next task. "But if it makes you feel any better, my self-defence instructor is former military. Now, if you don't mind, gentlemen, I believe we have work to do."

First chance she got, which wasn't until her break, Rogue went online to check the news on the matter. What she found was a video taken of the incident trending on YouTube. Judging from the perspective of the camera, it was taken by someone in the furniture shop. Rogue was clearly identifiable, but Jubilee had been off screen (aside from her fireworks), and there was no clear view of Kitty, who had been on the move and ended up with guns in front of her face.

Rogue read a couple of the articles on the incident; both were favourable, although she caught the headline of at least one article that implied otherwise. The articles assumed that Rogue was a mutant too.

She looked up from her phone at the sound of a ruckus out the front. She shoved it back into her bag just as her boss, Tom, came into view.

"Ah, Marie," he said. "We've got a news crew out the front wanting to talk to you."

Rogue blinked in surprise. "We do?"

"Apparently they got a hot tip you were here," Tom said. "And they aren't going to leave until you talk to them. Which is a problem, because they're clogging up the areas I need for moving cars around."

"Ahh," Rogue said as she shoved her nah back into her locker. "And you want me to get rid of them."

"At least get them back onto the sidewalk where they're not in the way. And keep your back to the shop, because if they're going to be here, I may as well get something from it."

Rogue laughed. For a moment she entertained the idea that Tom had been the one to call in the press, but she dismissed the idea. Tom could be opportunistic, but he took his work and the safety and welfare of his employees very seriously. More likely it was one of the others she worked with. There was a slim chance it could be a customer, but she hadn't had much contact with them today.

As soon as Rogue stepped out, cameras pointed in her direction and went off in her face. She swallowed hard, feeling a little overwhelmed and concerned that this was all going to go badly. Mutants didn't normally get good press.

"Um, hi—" Rogue began to say and was promptly cut off by a barrage of questions. She raised her voice and gesture to the wide footpath outside of the autoshop. "If we could just move things over here."

She didn't bother to wait for a response, just moved herself and the reporters followed, along with their cameras and microphones.


	2. vs Media

**Chapter 2: vs Media**

Rogue pulled up in the garage and parked her motorcycle. It was with great relief that she took off her helmet. The work day was over, and it had been another long day of a long week. Of all the reasons she could've regretted the fight with the Reavers, it never crossed her mind that constant, mixed attention from the media and general public was even on the list. Let alone end up at the top of that list.

There was a good deal of praise, especially from those who had been wronged in some way by the various Reaver cells that were plaguing the country (and starting to creep into other countries). There were the criticisms from those who either had legitimate concerns, or just weren't happy unless they were complaining about something. Then there were the inevitable comments from the dregs of society, who hated mutants, had to make everything sexual, or both.

Her ear had been buzzing all week.

"Hey chère," Gambit said.

Rogue glanced over to see him going through the spare parts at the workbench. "Hey."

"Yay weekend," he said with a knowing smile.

"Yay indeed." Rogue slumped against her motorcycle and closed her eyes. "Today this one wanker came to work to shout obscenities at me. Tom had to call the cops to get him to leave."

Gambit pulled a face. "Some people have no life."

"Yeah." She sighed. "Here's hoping something new and exciting happens over the weekend so that this madness will stop and people will just leave me alone already."

She sighed again and pushed herself off her motorcycle, and set her helmet aside in its place. She started to walk towards the door, only to be intercepted by Gambit. He wrapped his arms around her, and she willingly laid her head on his shoulder and let him hold her.

Rogue had done her best to minimise the amount of information the media got from her. She didn't mind answering questions like "how did it make you feel?" but refused to pass on the names of the friends she'd been with, the nature of her mutation, or why she got the Cure. It was none of their business. Kitty and Jubilee were getting enough harassment as it was without people knowing their names. Especially Kitty, who was being accused of being a thief in some quarters just because she was seen walking through the Reavers' prosthesis in the video.

So far, Kitty and Jubilee's names hadn't been made public.

Unfortunately, the media and Rogue's parents had met during the week. Owen and Priscilla had been more than willing to talk about their former mutant daughter, and how happy they were she took the Cure and got rid of that death touch of hers that put her first boyfriend in a coma for three weeks.

"We live in a nice neighbourhood, lots of families. Naturally, we couldn't let Marie stay home, not when she almost killed her boyfriend," said Owen while Priscilla looked on in the background. "You just can't have weapons lying around the house like that. Now that she's no longer dangerous, we'd love to have her back home again."

Rogue stopped watching the interviews with her family. It had reached the point where the very sight of her father's face made her want to throw things at the TV, and she almost went through with it.

"Will you ever reunite with your parents?" one pushy reporter had asked her.

"Hell no," Rogue said, determinedly looking right at the camera. "I took the Cure for my benefit, not theirs. If they couldn't accept me when I was a mutant, then they don't deserve to have me back."

Rogue had very angrily and reluctantly clarified that her mutation had been parasitic in nature, and that she'd taken the Cure because she couldn't turn it off. However! She had never killed anyone and they had better stop calling it a death touch. She'd cut herself off before making the threats of violence that wanted so badly to spill from her lips, and instead accused them of being melodramatic fearmongerers.

"I'm sure something will happen to take the heat off," Gambit said as he rubbed her back. "Especially with Halloween coming up."

Rogue opened her mouth to reply, and was promptly zapped by the static that always shocked anyone Gambit had prolonged physical contact with. It hurt, but she didn't pull back from the much needed hug. She knew she'd get zapped again if she didn't move away soon, but she didn't care. She was far too emotionally and mentally drained to care.

"Yeah," she said. "It won't be news forever."

He kissed the top of her head.

* * *

David Cody Robbins walked out of the locker room with his fellow teammates. There were two other Davids on the team, and another Robbins, so he opted to go by his middle name, Cody, like he had in high school. It was a vast improvement on "David R".

A horde of media was waiting outside. That was of no surprise to Cody. What was a surprise were the first questions he got asked:

"Are you the same David Cody Robbins that Marie D'Ancanto put into a coma two years ago?"

"What was it like being in a coma for three weeks?"

Cody looked at them as his teammates looked at him. He had heard Marie's name in the news lately (somehow it had not surprised him that she'd gotten into a fight with a Reaver and won), but he hadn't expected to be asked questions about her. Especially not after the great game of college football they'd had tonight.

"Um, yeah I am," Cody replied, then grinned, "and it was the most relaxing three weeks of my life."

That was all the encouragement they needed.

"No, I'm not mad at her. Why would I be mad at her? It was an accident, ain't like she did it on purpose," Cody replied, answering the questions that continued to fly his way. "How did I feel? Well, one moment I was having my first kiss and the next I was waking up in hospital, so mostly disappointment and confusion. Yes, I would love to pick up where we left off, and no, I'm not just saying that 'cause we were kissing at the time."

Some of his nearby teammates laughed at that.

"I never got to see her after I woke up. My folks wouldn't let me, and by the time I was in a position where I could've sneaked out of the house, she'd already left. Don't blame her; everyone was angry at her. But again, accident!" Cody nodded knowingly. "She didn't mean it, and if I know Marie, and I do know Marie, once she realised what her mutation was she took every precaution to make sure there wasn't a recurrence.

"You know, technically, we never officially broke up." Cody winked mischievously to the camera. "So, in which case, Marie, sugar, I owe you an apology. I have been dating other women. I know, I know, not being in contact with each other for two, three years is no excuse. You're right, I'm sorry. My bad. Maybe we could get together and talk this out proper sometime?

"Yes, I would absolutely get back together with her. My folks will be pissed when they hear me say that though.

"You know, it really should surprise me that she got taken hostage by a Reaver and ended up kicking his ass. It should, but it doesn't. Marie's always been a bit of a rogue.

"And as much fun as it's been chatting about my first girlfriend, the next question had better be about the game tonight."

x - x - x

Rogue stared at the TV screen in the rec room.

"He's not mad at me." She leapt up off the lounge "He's not mad at me!"

Much to the surprise of her friends, she began dancing around the rec room. She'd been carrying that particular burden for so long she'd gotten used to the weight of it. Now that it was lifted, she never felt so free.

"No, but apparently he thinks you're still dating," Pyro said, his voice thick with criticism.

"Oh please! He was just talking out his ass again. He does that," Rogue said, then whirled around and poked her tongue out at Pyro.

"Would you actually go back out with him again?" Kitty asked, eyeing her friend curiously.

Rogue spun around again, her eyes briefly landing on Gambit before she faced Kitty.

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "Maybe. I just assumed he was mad at me like everyone else was, so…"

Jubilee scooted over to Gambit, whose pink shirt had taken on a glow.

"And now you're free to go crawling back to him," Pyro sneered. "Even though he just admitted to cheating."

Jubilee murmured something in Gambit's ear. Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"What part of talking out his ass don't you understand?" Rogue retorted hotly. "And besides, I dated Bobby, so if he's a cheat then so am I."

Gambit smiled and murmured something back to Jubilee.

"Whatever," Pyro said, shaking his head with his arms firmly crossed. "Just go back to your human boyfriend. It's where you belong anyway."

Jubilee hid her giggle under her hand.

"Ugh it never fails," Kitty cut in before Rogue could respond. "Just when I think you're starting to be reasonable about the whole Rogue taking the Cure thing, you come out with something like that."

The glow faded from Gambit's shirt.

"Well, you know what they say," Rogue said. "You can't reason with unreasonable people." And she turned her back on Pyro. "So, that was the best news I've gotten since… since my powers manifested."

"Even better than getting the Cure?" Kitty asked.

"Yes! It's nice to know that at least one person isn't mad at me." Rogue flopped back down on the lounge, where Jubilee had been sitting before she moved over.

"Hey," Kitty smiled slyly. "He called you a rogue just now… Coincidence?"

Rogue chuckled. "My Aunt Carrie used to call me a rogue. Cody picked up on it and liked it, but he didn't call me that anywhere near as often as Aunt Carrie did."

"Aunt Carrie? She hasn't been on the news, has she?" Kitty asked with a frown, trying to remember the news stories they'd seen of Rogue's parents.

Rogue shook her head. "She and my father do not get along. At all. She thinks he's the exact kind of slimy weasel who would start a cult."

There were some giggles at that.

"He's a travelling salesman and isn't even home nine months of the year. Aunt Carrie says she wouldn't be surprised if he has another wife and child out there. Though I think the fact that he's just appeared on TV with my mama voluntarily proves he doesn't," Rogue went on in amusement. "Unless the other wife knows about Mama, I suppose."

"Wait, are you serious?" Jubilee asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, Aunt Carrie is serious. I've heard her theories about the kind of things he gets up to when he's not home my whole life." Rogue shrugged. "It's all just a big joke to me. Besides, if there was any substance to them, Mama would've left him by now."

"That's not necessarily true. There are plenty of women who still stay with their husband even though they know he's doing the dirty on them," Kitty said warily.

"I concede the point, but those women clearly don't have a sister Carrie to deal with. And if Aunt Carrie ever had any proof of any of her theories, you can bet your bottom dollar she would've gotten Mama to leave him." Rogue shrugged. "But she doesn't, so she steers clear of him, and he of her," Rogue went on with a grin for her friends. "She and I never really got along either, although, in hindsight, I'm wondering if I feel that way because I wasn't exactly a well behaved child."

"The nickname was well deserved then?" Jubilee asked, grinning.

"Very."

* * *

Media attention died down. The dregs of society continued to harass, but even they started to find new targets to go after. As they got closer to Halloween, the worst of the attention came from those inclined towards Real Person shipping, who were eager to set up Rogue and Cody on a reunion date.

If, by chance, Rogue was wrong about Tom not being the one to alert the media to her location, then he surely regretted that decision. Otherwise, if he ever found out who did, he'd make sure that they'd regret it. Most of the additional visits and phone calls had been people looking for Rogue. The amount of time wasted by those people did not in any way make up for the little additional business he did receive.

A few days before Halloween found Rogue, Jubilee, Bobby, and Pyro at Warren Worthington's Halloween party. Most of the other attendees were from the business school Warren was attending. Rogue wished that Gambit had come along, but he preferred to minimise his time away from the school while he still didn't have control. Piotr and Kitty were on a date.

"This looks amazing," Jubilee said, looking around with envy at the decorations and food. "Why can't I do this?"

"Budget," Rogue replied.

"Stupid budget."

Rogue chuckled.

"Hey guys," Warren greeted them, dressed up as an angel, complete with halo. "Glad you could make it."

"Your costume's a little on the nose, isn't it?" Pyro asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Maybe," Warren replied with a shrug. "But being restricted to only going as guys who wear coats or cloaks does get rather boring after awhile."

"I think you look awesome," Rogue said. "Have you gotten many comments on how realistic your wings look?"

"Heaps." Warren grinned. "I think a few people have figured out that they're actually real, but if I was worried about being outed as a mutant, I would've gone as Constantine. Besides, mutants are in good favour at the moment, thanks to you two." He smiled at Rogue and Jubilee.

"Here's hoping it lasts," Rogue said direly.

They chatted a little longer, and then Warren moved on to greet other guests. The four X-Men moved further inside the apartment to better enjoy the party.

Rogue was just acquiring some punch for herself when she did a double take. For a moment she thought there was a Reaver at the party, but on her second, proper look, she realised it was just a guy dressed up as one. He was in a wheelchair, and a covering over his lower half made it look like a tank.

Without realising what she was doing, she walked over to him. He looked up at her as she approached.

"Hey, I love your costume," she said.

"Thanks," he replied. "I'd say the same about yours, but I have no idea who you are.'

"Heh, I'm Wednesday Addams." She'd chosen the costume specifically because the black hair wig meant she could hide her white streak while at the party.

"Ah. I'm only passingly familiar with the Addams Family," he said.

Rogue shrugged. "There's so much out there, no one can be familiar with everything."

"All too true." He held out his hand. "Lionel."

She shook his hand. "Rogue. Pleasure to meet you."

A few weeks ago, she would've introduced herself as 'Marie' since that was the name she had intended to use now that she was no longer a mutant. But, aside from not wanting to be recognised, she found that being called Marie, particularly Marie D'Ancanto, was putting a bad taste in her mouth. All she could think about was her father declaring to the world that she was welcome back home now that she no longer had her death touch, like that was somehow a loving and generous gesture.

"Rogue, huh?" Lionel asked. "You're one of Warren's mutant friends then?"

"Yeah." It was easier to agree and hope he didn't ask about her mutant powers.

"Cool. So," and his voice took on a gleeful tone, "what did you think of the Mutants vs Reavers fight?"

Rogue stifled a groan. "I think it was vastly overrated."

"Really?" Lionel sounded surprised. "How so?"

"Well for one thing, it's hardly the first time the Reavers have gotten beaten in a fight," Rogue replied after a sip of her punch.

"True, but it is the first time that a group of civilians have done it without getting hurt and/or killed in the process," Lionel replied. "Not to mention the police pretty much did nothing until the mutants had finished."

"I think the police would've done more if they weren't concerned about the welfare of the hostage. Her friends didn't even do anything until after she'd taken the gun out of the equation." Rogue found it both weird and amusing to talk about herself in the third person.

"That we saw."

"That line of thinking could also apply to the police."

"Touche." Lionel grinned at her. "Actually, what I find the most interesting is not so much the fight as it was the location."

"Oh?"

"Of all the places in the complex they could have robbed, they chose a place that could only be reached by a flight of stairs," he said. "They purposely brought in a lift just so they could get their whole team in there. Why, I ask you? There would've been easier targets, so why did they deliberately chose a place that didn't have proper disability access?"

Rogue nodded slowly. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing that myself. A…friend of mine doesn't think that going after the gym made any sense at all. The most expensive stuff they have there is probably the big heavy equipment that would not be quick and easy to move. The gym store might have some stuff worth snatching, but all the membership fees are going to be paid electronically."

"Well, that's probably why they ripped open the lockers," Lionel said. "They wanted everyone's personal stuff, which was all nicely set aside in one spot for them. Including stuff they could commit identity fraud with."

"Yeah, that's what my friend thinks too. But that still doesn't explain why they went after that particular gym, when there would've been easier ones to get the whole team into. Or, why, for that matter, the tanktaur wasn't the getaway driver."

"Tanktaur?"

"Oh, yeah, that's what my friends and I have started calling them: like a centaur, only the bottom half is a tank instead of a horse." Rogue looked a little embarrassed.

Lionel chuckled. "Tanktaur. I like it." He pointed at her. "I agree with your friend's line of thought. I think there's a lot more to this than just what's on the surface. Did you hear that when they tried to take the wheel clamps off the lift, that these little micro bombs went off?"

"I did. Makes me wonder why they went to so much trouble."

"Same." He hesitated for a moment, then started to say "I have—" only to be cut off by Warren's arrival.

"Hey you guys," Warren greeted them. "You two aren't fighting are you?"

"Why would we be fighting?" Lionel asked, his forehead furrowed in confusion.

"Well, you're the biggest Reaver fanboy I know," Warren said, and pointed to Rogue, "and Marie beats up Reavers…"

Rogue cleared her throat uncomfortably as Lionel looked sharply at her. "You're Marie?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Warren said, looking between them apologetically. "Did I just out you?"

"Um, yeah, kinda," Rogue replied awkwardly. "I was hoping to avoid attracting any more attention."

Lionel chuckled. "And we ended up talking about it anyway."

"Well, I was the one who said 'hi' to you, so one could argue I brought it on myself." Rogue shrugged.

"Ha! Well, Warren's right," Lionel gave Warren a wink, "I am the biggest Reaver fanboy around. Especially those tanktaurs."

"Oh?" Rogue asked.

"I have been salivating over those tank treads. I've seen videos; those things can get over 1.5inch steps." Lionel sighed wistfully.

"Ah, yes," Rogue nodded. She remembered that Professor Xavier had problems with things like that. Not at the school, of course, but on excursions and other trips outside the grounds.

"I swear, if it wasn't for the fact that Reavers have a well-deserved criminal reputation, I would absolutely get me one of those." He sighed again. "In the meantime I just have to hope that someone puts together a variant without the negative connotations."

As they fell into heavy discussion, Rogue vaguely noticed Warren watching them go back and forth like he was watching the tennis, and eventually walked off.

* * *

October 31st arrived, and thanks to Gambit's shenanigans, Halloween-themed food was served all day. He had swapped out the regular egg rings with skull shaped ones, and had a bunch of pre-made cookies available.

Jubilee had organised the decorating of the mansion, and was thrilled with the results. She was going for casual, friendly Halloween, except for a couple of specific rooms where she deliberately went for "I want to make you wet your pants" creepy with varying results.

Gambit steered clear of Jubilee's scarier rooms, in case something surprised him and he blew something up.

"Aw, but you don't have incidents as often as you used to," Jubilee said with a pout.

"And yet blowing something up due to surprise is still a thing," Gambit replied, but he seemed more amused than annoyed.

"I think it's just an excuse." Bobby nodded. "I think he's too scared."

"Oh? I tell you what, Bobby," Gambit drawled. "I'll go in, if you go in right in front of me."

Bobby paused. He glanced over at Jubilee who was nodding eagerly, her face bright with mischief.

"I'll pass," Bobby said finally.

Gambit nodded. "That's what I thought."

* * *

The following Friday afternoon, Rogue and Gambit sat on the topmost parapet of the mansion, looking out on the grounds. The sun was quite hot, and the wind had a chill; half their bodies were getting baked and the other half frozen.

"I think I have a date," Rogue said.

Gambit was silent for a moment, then said: "You think you do?"

"Yeah. I was talking to Lionel—"

"That guy you met at Warren's party?"

"Yep. Anyway, we decided to get together for coffee, right? It was going to be a lunch thing, but we didn't have a mutually available lunch any time soon, so we decided to go for dinner instead." Rogue frowned. "I'm not sure if this is a date or if we're going as friends."

"Huh. Well, maybe you should ask him." Gambit grinned at her. "May as well clear it up the easy way."

Rogue laughed lightly. "Yeah, I guess so."

Silence fell for a few minutes.

"Do you want it to be a date?" Gambit asked.

"Oh, um, I don't know." Rogue frowned. "I've never dated someone I've only just met before. I was friends with Cody and Bobby first. Okay, so I wasn't friends with Bobby for very long before we started dating, but that's not the point."

"Ah, see, I was the opposite," Gambit replied with a hint of melancholy in his voice. "I would date someone and we'd eventually become friends or break up. Or not become friends and break up. Okay, the breaking up part was inevitable, it was just a matter of whether it was a friendly one or not."

Rogue smiled, and was about to reply, when Gambit continued.

"What about Cody?"

"What about him?"

"Well, I thought you were interested in getting back together with him. Isn't dating Lionel going to mess that up?"

Rogue sighed, then shook her head. "Maybe, I don't know. Right now I don't even know how to get back in contact with him without getting a third party and possibly the media involved. Let alone find out if he was serious about us dating again."

"Aw chère, who wouldn't be serious about dating you?"

A flicker of magenta caught Rogue's eye.

"You haven't read the hate mail I've been getting," she replied, opting not to comment on Gambit's pants being charged up.

"I really need to carry out my threat to track those people down."

Rogue snickered and Gambit grinned at her.

"You laugh now, but if those guys have enough time on their hands for writing hate mail, then they clearly don't have enough to do," he said wickedly. "I can fix that."

"I'm sure you can," she said, and hesitated before continuing. She wanted to talk about Lionel some more, but she should've known better than to discuss dating with Gambit. "But really, surely you have better things to do with your time than to waste it on people who have no lives?"

Gambit shrugged. "I'm going to need someone to rob when I get control back, so why not target people who send hate mail? I'll get to steal and defend your honour at the same time. It's win-win!"

Rogue laughed.

"And I know what you're going to say," Gambit went on before Rogue could say anything, "you can defend your own honour. I know you can. You shouldn't have to."

Rogue smiled and leaned into him. "But punching people is so much fun!"

"You punch too many people, you're going to break your pretty hands."

"That's okay. Broken bones heal back stronger."

"I…" he shook his head, "can't argue with that."

"I know." She shuddered and began to shift position. "Okay, it's getting cold out here."

"Yeah."

"I think we're going to have to find somewhere else to sit and chat soon."

"This is the problem with winter," Gambit said as he too, started to get up, "all the good, warm and cosy hideaways are taken."

They climbed down from the parapet and Rogue was pleased to see that Gambit had been able to remove the charge from his pants. She flashed him a quick grin and climbed down the ladder. She opened up the door and stepped onto the stairwell.

"You know," Gambit said as he joined her. "We could just meet here."

"On the stairs?"

"Yep."

"Where there's no view?"

"Yep."

"And an echo chamber?"

"Okay, point taken."

* * *

Rogue returned to her room later that night with the intention of getting ready for bed and reading for an hour before going to sleep. As she approached her room, she could hear the hum of a vacuum cleaner, and frowned as she opened up the door.

Gambit was kneeling on the floor with the vacuum and a separate garbage bag, cleaning up a pile of broken dryboard, dust, and shredded fabric. Above his head was a huge hole in the wall that their bedrooms shared. Two of the three curtains that hung between the wall and the rest of Rogue's room were in tatters. Gambit glanced up as she entered. He shut off the vacuum cleaner.

"Oh, hey sorry," he said. "I wanted to have this all cleaned up before you got back."

Rogue shook her head, even as she took in the mess. The curtains had done their job, keeping the mess confined, even if it had cost them in the process.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" she persisted. He hadn't blown a hole that big in the wall before.

"I'm fine!"

A charge slipped out of his hand and into the vacuum cleaner. He swore loudly.

"Okay, I'm not fine," he practically shouted. "Happy?"

Rogue started to open her mouth.

"You're dating other men and I am miserable. And envious. And…" he shook his head, "and a whole host of other things." He sighed. "And you know, you should date, and get on with your life, and not wait around for me to get my power under control." He looked despondently at the charged up vacuum. "I am nowhere near ready to start dating again, no matter how much I wish otherwise."

Rogue sat down beside him, but said nothing until the magenta light around the vacuum had disappeared for a good minute.

"I would date you right now," she said softly. "I don't need to wait for you to have control."

He looked at her with sheer desperation in his eyes, then grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her with everything he had. Rogue kissed him back eagerly as she moved onto his lap.

A tickling static build up against her skin, and Rogue opened her eyes just as Gambit jerked his lips back from hers. Magenta light swirled around their clothing, both shirts and pants. Gambit closed his eyes and sighed heavily as he pressed his forehead into her shoulder.

"And this is why I can't date." His voice was resigned.

There were so many things Rogue wanted to reply with. She wanted to argue that she was okay with taking the risk. She wanted to declare her willingness to wait, that it wouldn't be fair on anyone she dated that her heart already belonged to him.

"So, you planning Thanksgiving dinner yet?" she said instead.

"Oh, yeah, I hadn't even finished cleaning up after Halloween. Already ordered the turkeys. We need a lot of them for the school."

Rogue listened as Gambit verbalised his Thanksgiving plans. Cooking was always an effective way to enable him to regain control over his powers. Soon he was able to remove the charges, and Rogue reluctantly left his lap.

"I'll just finish cleaning," he said.

There was so much she wanted to say to him, but all she said was: "Okay."


	3. vs Reavers round 2

**AN:** Hi all, I just want to preface this chapter with a quick warning. No one is killed in this chapter, but there is a (performing arts) theatre that gets shot up.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: vs Reavers round 2**

Rogue, Bobby, Kitty, Piotr, Pyro, Jubilee and Logan arrived at the Danger Room first thing the next morning to find it already in use. They opened up the doors and stepped into the suburbia program that Kitty and Gambit were working on.

They were on the main street of the little town. Shops and public buildings lined each side of the road; a grocery store, the bookshop, a couple of clothing shops, a cinema, an art gallery. Further down the street they could see the outline of City Hall and the ice skating arena. Beyond those buildings they could see others, some clearly commercial in shape, others obviously residential, and plenty of space for yet more.

Just in front of them was a diner with a small parking lot in front.

"Wow," Jubilee said as she looked around. "This place is incredible."

"It sure has expanded a lot since I was last here," Bobby said, his eyes wide as he slowly turned to take in the sights.

"Oh, you have no idea," Kitty said, almost sounding disgusted. "I don't know how he's gotten so much done in six, seven months. Well, that's not true; he's a night owl, so he has no competition for Danger Room hours. But still, this place looks freaking amazing and it's not even done yet. And I feel like I'm getting behind because I haven't gotten anywhere near as much programming done as I want to."

Rogue bounded over to the diner door and let herself in, not bothering to see if anyone was coming with her. A bell jingled as she entered, and then jingled some more as others did, in fact, follow her in.

The diner was fully furnished inside with tables and chairs with red tops and cushions. As she looked around, she spotted Gambit in the kitchen, and that was when she also noticed the smell of cooking food.

"Hey sugar," she said as she trotted over.

"Hey," Gambit said as he looked up and his eyes scanned the group. "Let me guess, I'm up way past my bedtime again."

"Yep," Rogue replied cheerfully as she leaned on the counter, sniffing. "What is that delicious smell?"

"And how in the world did you program it?" Kitty added, staring at Gambit like he'd just grown wings.

Gambit chuckled and picked up a plate of cooked apple pieces wrapped up in thin pancake rolls. "Apple and cinnamon crapes. And I didn't program the smell, I programmed the grill." He gestured to the large diner cooking station, then grinned at Kitty. "I took a cue from your lessons on how to make the ice skating rink cold."

Everyone started talking at once:

"You programmed a functional kitchen?"

"Of course you would figure out how to cook in the Danger Room."

"You brought food into the Danger Room?"

"There had better not be a mess to clean up when we turn this program off."

"Just please promise me you won't go cooking anything with garlic in here."

Kitty just looked at Gambit like she was a proud mother. Gambit chuckled.

"Yes, the kitchen works. Well, part of it. I'll finish the rest some other night," he said with a yawn.

"But why?" Bobby asked, looking perplexed. "It doesn't need to work."

"Because the suburbia program is supposed to be a backdrop for battle sims," Gambit replied, nodding sagely. "What if your fighting spills out into the diner? It's not going to be very realistic if you knock a Reaver onto the grill and he doesn't get burnt."

"I'm more concerned about one of us getting knocked onto the grill and getting burned," Bobby said dubiously. "We can program the Reaver to get burnt without actually making the grill hot."

"So, Remy," Rogue said with a knowing grin. "What's the real reason?"

Gambit's eyes glinted with mischief. "I wanted to."

"Are the toilets fully functional too?" Pyro asked snidely.

"Actually, yes," Gambit replied cheerfully. "But if someone who uses it isn't a sim, they'd better have a real sewerage tank hooked up to it, or there's going to be a real mess left behind."

"And they'd better have real soap and real toilet paper," Kitty added. "Also, ew, Pyro."

"What? Hey, if you're going to have food in the Danger Room—"

"And you're not going to have food in the Danger Room," Logan said, giving Gambit a dire look.

Gambit grinned at Logan. "Computer: Save progress and close."

The simulation vanished, leaving Gambit's plate of crepes and a box full of cooking supplies.

"Well," he said as he sauntered over to the doors, "I'm going to enjoy my early morning snack and head on to bed. Have fun beating up whoever it is Logan wants to torture you with this time."

As soon as the Danger Room doors closed behind him, Kitty whirled on Rogue.

"So, what did he blow up this time?" she asked.

Rogue looked at Kitty and felt everyone's eyes on her.

"There's a huge hole in our wall about the size of his back," she said, a little reluctantly. "The charge was spread out, but pretty light. He says it's a good thing he didn't lean against the wall any longer, or the damage could have been a lot worse."

She knew she didn't need to elaborate. Everyone had seen big charges from him before, although all of the bad ones had only ever been released in the Danger Room.

"Aww that sucks," Jubilee said with a pout. "He's been doing so much better with his control lately too."

"What caused it?" Pyro asked.

Rogue snorted. "I ain't volunteering that information. Nothing upsets him more than having his powers betray his feelings all the time. I'm not making that worse by gossipping about stuff I know he'd rather keep private."

"And if we're done," Logan cut in then. "We have a session to run."

* * *

After yet another gruelling Danger Room session under Logan's tutelage, the X-Men returned to their respective locker rooms to shower and change.

"Okay, so just between us girls," Jubilee said as she dried off after her shower. "Remy was upset about you dating, right?"

"I am not talking about it," Rogue replied firmly.

"Mmhmm." Jubilee rolled her eyes. "C'mon Rogue, everyone knows you and Remy are crazy about each other. It makes sense that he would get upset about you dating."

"I don't even know if it's actually a date yet," Rogue muttered.

"Whatever."

"I doubt that it's as simple as that," Kitty said. "I mean, this isn't just a case of 'the woman he likes is dating someone else'."

"I know, I know. He's having to put his entire love life on hold so he doesn't get the love of his life killed," Jubilee said. "But—"

"I am not the love of his life!" Rogue objected.

"I was exaggerating for effect," Jubilee said, slowly turning and giving Rogue a long look. "Although, from that reaction…" Jubilee waggled her eyebrows at Rogue.

Kitty giggled, then quickly spoke up before Rogue could retort: "It could just be lure of the forbidden, and the moment they get together they decide they're better off as friends."

"No, absolutely not," Jubilee said, also cutting in before Rogue could say anything. "I refuse to accept that my favourite couple in this place only want each other because they can't have each other. Not acceptable."

"Favourite couple?" Kitty asked, looking amused as she started to dress. "What about Petey and me?"

"You're my other favourite couple."

"I don't think you can have two favourites."

"That's a very elitist attitude you have there."

"You're the one choosing favourites. Whatever!" Kitty paused while she pulled her shirt over her head. "The point is, Remy's dealing with a multi-layered problem at the moment, and Rogue dating another guy—"

"Another two guys, if she gets back together with Cody," Jubilee cut in mischievously.

"—is basically rubbing salt in the wound."

Rogue sighed loudly.

"Thank you for making me feel sooo much better about going out with Lionel," Rogue said cynically. "No, really, I'm just so thrilled that you've made my maybe-date all about Remy."

Kitty and Jubilee looked at each other, then back at Rogue.

"While I take your point, people don't exist in a bubble," Kitty said. "Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, our actions affect the people around us, even if only indirectly. So, yeah, you and Lionel dating is not about Remy, it's about you and Lionel. But it still affects Remy. And for that matter, it affects Jubilee and me, just in different ways."

"True. It affects me because juicy gossip," Jubilee said gleefully as she put on her shoes. "It affects Remy 'cause he'd fallen head over heels for you, and was forced to choose between breaking his own heart or risk killing you in an explosive passionate embrace."

Kitty and Rogue stared at Jubilee as she sighed wistfully.

"What?" she demanded, then poked her tongue out at Kitty and stood. "See? This is why Rogue and Remy are my favourite couple."

"See!" Kitty said, grabbing her bag and heading towards the door. "You can only have one favourite."

"It's one of those will-they-won't-they relationships only it's real life and oooh the drama may be the death of me!" Jubilee replied dramatically.

Rogue sighed as she grabbed her things and followed her friends out the door.

"I just wanna lock them in a closet sometime and see what happens!" Jubilee continued as they stepped into the hallway, about the same time as the boys left their locker room as well.

"The sexual tension becomes too much, Remy blows up the closet," Kitty replied blandly. "Rogue is injured and/or dies."

"Spoilsport."

"What's this?" Bobby asked.

"Nothing," Rogue said sharply.

"Okay…" Bobby said slowly. "So, Pete and I are going to go to the art shop—"

"Why are you going to the art shop?" Kitty asked Bobby in surprise.

"I need stuff for our next Games Day. I've decided to do something different: make your own board games."

"I see."

"I think Morph may need art supplies as well," Piotr said. "We're going to ask him if he wants to come. Would anyone else like to join us?"

The girls demurred as the team got into the elevator.

* * *

"On the other hand, maybe we should've gone with them," Kitty said.

They had all crowded around the TV in the nearest rec room as soon as they'd gotten word. On the big screen, Piotr in his steel form grabbed a gun from the Reaver in front of him and bent it out of shape.

"I don't know," Rogue drawled. "They seem to be doing pretty well on their own."

The camera crew was set up on the same street as the art shop, but the fight was happening outside of an old theatre further down. The front of the theatre had been shot up and smashed in, along with the stair leading up to it, and a nearby fire hydrant.

Bobby, in his iceform, was making good use of the freely flowing water to create and maintain an ice wall in front of the theatre and himself. Two Reavers with spinning blades for hands were trying to slice through it. Their blades could slice through easily. Unfortunately for them, Iceman just filled it in again. The few Reavers who still had guns were trying to shoot it to pieces, but the ice was so thick that most of the bullets got lodged inside.

Colossus continued to engage the Reavers head on, determined to divest them of their weapons.

"We don't know if those spinning blades can cut Pete's skin or not," Kitty said earnestly. "I don't want to find out the hard way. I wish he would get behind the wall."

"Bobby has his back," Rogue said with assurance. "He's got both the bladed guys occupied right now, and I'm sure that if they decide to turn around and attack Pete, Bobby'll stop them. It's not like he's limited to walls."

"But what if he blinks at the wrong moment? What if Pete doesn't notice in time? What if—"

The sound of police sirens was heard, and was commented on by the covering reporter. Immediately, all the Reavers turned and ran for their truck. The one tanktaur amongst them headed for the ramp at the back and drove up. One of the Reavers with a spinning blade for a hand made a pass at Colossus as he came from behind.

"No!" Kitty's hands flew to her mouth.

A block of ice appeared around the blade. It was still able to spin, but it couldn't cut through to free itself. The ice block hit Colossus' back, and slid right off. Colossus turned, but the Reaver continued running. Colossus seemed to hesitate as the Reavers climbed into the truck and looked back at Iceman. Iceman forced his icewall to collapse.

 _"Stop them! Don't let them get away!" yelled some voices off screen._

Ice blocks appeared around the tyres, then Colossus surprised everyone by running back towards the theatre. Not long thereafter, emergency services arrived.

The news crew continued to cover things as the police cornered the Reavers to arrest them. Firefighters entered the theatre which was visibly starting to crumble. Iceman kept on guard outside to make sure no one slipped on or otherwise ran into any ice. The ground outside the theatre was already treacherous enough with the front stair shot up.

 _"I'm just getting word that there's extensive structural damage inside the theatre," said the reporter. "About the only thing still holding it up are some pillars that the ice mutant made. Both mutants are helping to prop the place up while they get people out. The theatre was due for its matinee show when the Reavers showed up."_

Finally the channel decided that that was all the excitement there was going to be, but they promised viewers they'd bring further updates as the situation developed.

* * *

If the X-Men thought that Bobby, Piotr, and Morph would quietly come back home, they were sorely mistaken. While Piotr and Morph made a discreet departure, Bobby walked right into the throng of press after making his statement at the police station.

 _"I'm Iceman, and my friend's Colossus," Bobby said. "We were just doing some shopping in the area when we heard the gunfire. We thought there might be a shooting going on, so we'd thought we'd see if we could help at all._

 _"Well, bullets don't hurt Colossus, though I'd rather not find out what happens if a bullet ever hit my ice form!_

 _"Anyway, we went inside and found all these Reavers shooting up the place. Man, I don't know if they were just pissed that they didn't time their trip for when a show was actually on, or what, but they really seemed to have it in for the stage, and almost every wall with a door in it._

 _"Everything after that happened so fast it's kinda hard to explain, but Colossus and I attacked the Reavers. Or, more specifically, their weapons. I iced over some, and Colossus broke others, and I think I'm making it sounds really easy but it wasn't. Okay, we were really outnumbered, and there were a couple of times I thought we were going to be overwhelmed. I honestly think the only reason why they even left the theatre was because all the shooting and stuff had destabilised the building. That's why I put up ice pillars inside. I'm glad they held as long as they did."_

Rogue, Kitty, and the other residents of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters watched as Bobby chatted with reporters. Once he finished describing what had happened, they fired questions at him.

 _"Here's hoping with two large Reaver arrests in the last month we'll have some peace from them for awhile."_

 _"I have no idea why they were shooting up the theatre."_

 _"Marie who? Oh, you mean Rogue. Yeah, I know her. Ex-girlfriend actually."_

Rogue rolled her eyes.

 _"Yes, I graduated from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."_

 _"Gifted means gifted. It's not code for anything. I mean, sure, my gift is turning into ice, but Colossus' gift is definitely art."_

Kitty sighed and Storm shook her head.

 _"Rogue? Oh, her gift is kicking ass."_

Jubilee stifled a giggle and Rogue groaned. That was all she needed.

 _"Nah, we broke up because she said I was disrespectful. Which I strongly disagreed with at the time, but in hindsight I think she had a point." Bobby looked thoughtful._

 _"Anyway, it's been cool chillin' with you all, but I need to go. Catchyas all later!"_

"Well," Storm said as the story finished. "I suppose that could have gone a lot worse."

"If this causes a resurgence in attention…" Rogue buried her face in her hands. Kitty patted her back sympathetically.

"I could be wrong, but I think the media will be more interested in Bobby than yourself," Storm said. "They may still come after you for comment, but Bobby does have active, flashy mutant powers. I do not think that it would be a bad thing for Bobby to be a spokesman for the mutant community. After all, until now the most notable mutant in the public eye has been Magneto."

"Maybe." Jubilee paused and swallowed hard before continuing: "Maybe more of us should step up to the task. She looked thoughtful and reluctant.

"You first." Kitty stood. "I'm not going to out myself and be treated like a criminal for the rest of my life just because I can walk through walls."

* * *

After spending an hour with Kitty beating things up in the Danger Room, Rogue retreated to her bedroom. She curled up in bed with her book, and was only twenty minutes into it when she heard a knock on the door.

Rogue opened her mouth to tell whoever it was to come in, only to hear Gambit say it first. Rogue heard his door open.

"You wanted to speak to me?" Storm asked.

"Yeah, thanks for coming," Gambit replied. "It's about, well, it's about that."

Although she couldn't see him, she had a feeling Gambit was pointing at the hole in the wall.

"Hmm, yes, I had heard," Storm said.

"It could have easily been worse. A lot worse." There was quiet for a moment, then: "Look, I know you don't agree with running away from your problems, but in this case, I really think I should move to a more isolated location. If my back had been to the wall even a second longer—"

Rogue froze. He wanted to move away from her?

"There is a difference between running away from your problems and risk reduction. Unfortunately, we do not have a more isolated location for you to move to." Storm's words were matter-of-fact, and yet Rogue detected a note of inquiry.

"There's the boathouse."

Rogue frowned. The boathouse? That was in use, and full at that. There wasn't any room for anyone to live.

As if echoing her thoughts, Storm said: "The boathouse has boats in it."

"No, not the new one. The old one."

Rogue blinked and shook her head in dismay. She'd seen the old boathouse, and it was a ramshackle building not fit for human habitation.

"It is in dire need of repair if it is to be used again for any purpose," Storm replied slowly.

"I know. Logan and I checked it out over the summer. But it's not exactly on the priority list so…"

There was a heavy silence. Rogue willed Storm to say no.

"Very well," Storm said. "You and Logan may raise its priority. I will need to see estimates for materials before you start, however."

"Great, thanks!" Gambit replied happily while Rogue frowned.

"Now, what is the real reason you asked me to your room? We could have had this discussion in my office, with Logan present."

Rogue smiled at Storm's knowing tone.

"Right."

There was the sound of a drawer opening, then shutting again a moment later. Storm drew her breath in sharply.

"What are you doing with the Cure?" Storm asked.

Rogue raised her eyebrows, wondering at Gambit's admission. They all knew how Storm felt about the Cure.

"I stole it while Rogue was getting her injection," Gambit replied, confidently and without apology. "I didn't know anything about this school of hers. I sure as hell didn't know if you guys would actually be able to help me. So, I stole the Cure, so I'd still have that as an option."

"I see."

"Look, I know you don't believe that the Cure is the answer, and quite frankly, I would prefer not to take it. I like my mutation when I can control it. Sure, the last one and a half years have been hell, but I'm not so desperate that I'm willing to take it just yet. I'm less desperate than I was since being here because, in the face of all my dire expectations, I have made progress."

"Yes, you have."

"But you know how it is. Every now and then you have a bad day and…" there was the sound of fingers rapping on cardboard, "knowing I have this, this backup plan, this last resort. Just knowing that it's available, does wonders for my anxiety levels."

Another pause, and then Storm said: "Good. Good, if possessing the Cure helps you in this way, then I am glad you have it."

"I need you to keep this safe."

"Come again?"

"Well, five of the vials anyway. I need to keep one in here so I can remind myself I have it on bad days," Gambit replied wryly. "But I need to know that if I accidentally blow up my bedroom, whether it be here or in the boathouse, that at least one vial is going to survive."

After another silence, Storm replied: "Very well. But I have a request."

"Yeah?"

"I would like your permission to give one of the vials to Dr Ashton for research purposes." Then Storm's tone changed from solemn to mildly amused: "I realise that you were probably planning on selling the excess on the blackmarket—"

Gambit laughed. "What else was I going to do with them? Yeah, sure, Dr Ashton can have one."

"Thank you."

The conversation wrapped up shortly thereafter, and both of them left the room. A single thought rolled around on loop in her brain: Remy thought of his feelings for her as a problem.

She felt a tear roll down her cheek and shook herself. Angrily she brushed the tear away and sniffed.

"No," she said to herself. "No, this is, you're being irrational. Intense emotion causes him to lose control. So if he has strong feelings for you, then yes, it is a problem."

She took a few deep breaths, willing her own strong emotional reaction to succumb to logic. Gambit was right to take whatever steps were necessary to avoid hurting people. After all, didn't she cover herself up, even on hot summer days, just to make sure no one got accidentally absorbed? She didn't want to put anyone into a coma any more than he wanted to blow someone up.

If Gambit thought that moving out into the old boathouse was the right thing to do for everyone's safety then who was she to object?

Logic didn't stop it from hurting.


	4. vs A Bunch of Losers

**Chapter 4: vs A Bunch of Losers**

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

 _"I wish to speak to the Headmaster."_

Rogue stifled a sigh. Normally the school phone was reasonably quiet and well within their secretary, Justine's ability to cope with. Calls had picked up after her own fight with Reavers, but they'd reached the point of 'non stop' after Iceman's interview. Justine had started spending all day answering calls and getting no work done, to the point where everyone was taking shifts to help out.

"And what is the nature of your call?"

 _"The nature of my call is that I want to speak to the Headmaster."_

Rogue sighed heavily down the line and made no attempt whatsoever to hide it. "Look, ma'am, this call can go one of two ways. Either you tell me what the call is about and we go from there, or you don't tell me, and I just assume you're going to be yet another anti-mutant hater calling to spout threats and vitriol, and I hang up on you."

The caller spluttered indignantly while Rogue rolled her eyes, then said: _"I am a paying customer!"_

"You're a parent of one of our students then? Great, I'm glad we're making progress in this conversation. How can I help you?"

 _"I want to speak to the Headmaster!"_

As they proceeded to berate Rogue for not immediately doing so, she wondered what poor child had them for a mother.

"Ms Monroe is currently busy with another call," Rogue said. "But perhaps if you tell me what the hell this call is about—"

 _"Don't speak to me like that!"_

"I've been doing nothing but answering calls for the last two hours, non-stop. As soon as this call finishes, I'm going to have to pick up the phone again, because it's just going to ring again straight away. I've lost all patience I may have had, and quite frankly my heart goes out to anyone who has to deal with this for a living because I don't know how they stand it. If you're not going to be civil, then don't expect civility from me. Now, are you going to tell me what you want, or are you going to continue to waste my time?"

The caller went back to ranting. Rogue sighed. She was sorely tempted to just hang up, but if they really were a parent she probably shouldn't. They'd just call back later and someone else would have to go through the same song and dance.

"Okay, based on all the other parent calls we've been getting," Rogue said, cutting into their tirade with no regard as to if they were actually listening or not, "you're calling to either find out if 'gifted' is code for 'mutant' or not, to verify the safety and wellbeing of your teenager, to make arrangements for their coming home over the upcoming Christmas break, or to unenroll your teenager because you don't want them associating with mutants."

 _"Well, what do you expect when you let those creatures into—"_

"Oh, you are a mutant hater. Good to know. So, hypothetically speaking, if it turns out that your teen is a mutant and hasn't told you because they know you hate mutants, are you still going to want them home? Or is your mutant hate going to win out over love for your child?"

Rogue allowed herself a knowing smirk as the parent declared that it was a ridiculous question and there was no possible way that their precious Luke could possibly be one of those monsters. Idly, Rogue scrolled through the list of students for ones named Luke. There were a couple, but only one of them had been enrolled by a parent who didn't know they were a mutant.

"Well, feel free to come by any time to pick up Luke," Rogue said as she started making notes for Justine.

 _"I'm not going there!"_

"Come again?"

 _"You'll send Luke to me. I'm not stepping foot in that, that, that monster school of yours."_

"You say that, and yet you've already stepped foot on Xavier's."

 _"That was before I knew you harboured mutants there. Ugh, I don't know how you can stand those filthy, unnatural creatures."_

"Quite easily. In fact, all my best friends are mutants. And so is one of my ex-boyfriends."

Complete silence followed. It went on so long, Rogue started to wonder if she'd had a heart attack or something.

"You okay, over there?" Rogue asked. "Still breathing? The shock of realising that humans and mutants can live in peace with one another hadn't given you an aneurysm has it?"

Incoherent spluttering followed.

"Okay, well, I'm afraid for unenrolment purposes you are going to have to come here," Rogue said firmly.

There was further arguing as Luke's mother attempted to badger Rogue into agreeing to something else. Rogue tuned her out as she finished up writing her notes for Justine, then set the page aside.

"If you want to unenroll Luke, you will have to come here both to fill out the paperwork and pick up your son. This is our policy, which is clearly stated both on our website and in our brochure, which you would have received prior to enrolling Luke here in the first place—"

 _"That was before I knew you—"_

"Blah, blah, blah. The fact that we're a youth shelter is also mentioned in both places, and would've been outright stated to you during the interview," Rogue went on. "We provide shelter for youth running away from abusive situations or otherwise kicked out of home. That it never occurred to you that some of these youth would be mutants is not my problem. Good day."

She hung up. She took a deep breath.

The phone rang.

She sighed and picked it up. "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

 _"Hello, I'm Marco Rodrìguez,"_ said the upbeat caller, far too upbeat for Rogue's taste, and she immediately assumed the worst. _"I'm a qualified teacher,"_ Rogue sat up straight, _"and I would like to send in my CV for consideration for any positions you may have open now or in the future."_

"Yes, absolutely," Rogue replied with a level of enthusiasm that surprised herself, then with a suspicious note: "You don't have a problem with mutants, do you?"

 _"No, definitely not."_

"Oh good. I'm sure it seems like a silly question. I mean, after all the publicity the school has been getting lately, I ought to assume that anyone applying for work would be fine with mutants, but I have gotten so many hate calls in the last two hours…" She sighed. "Okay, got a pen?"

 _"Uh, yes."_

Rogue gave him the address. He read it back after, and Rogue confirmed he had it transcribed correctly.

 _"Great thank you. Uh, I don't suppose you happen to know if there are any openings right now?"_

They were always looking for more staff, but Rogue didn't tell him that: "I have no idea what positions are open right now. I don't normally work in the office. But we'll look at your application and someone will definitely get back to you one way or another."

 _"Great, thanks. Oh, and I hope you don't get any more hate calls."_

"Yeah, so do I."

They hung up. Rogue felt much happier for a moment, and then the phone rang again.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

The caller immediately started spewing anti-mutant vitriol. Rogue sighed and set the computer to start recording and tracing them. So much for not getting any more hate calls.

"Just letting you know," Rogue said idly, "this call is being recorded for legal purposes."

The caller didn't acknowledge her, just continued on their barrage. Rogue let him continue, keeping the phone away from her ear, just enough so that she could still hear that he was talking without having to endure his words. Eventually he hung up. Rogue saved the recording and left another note for Justine.

The phone rang again.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

 _"Um, hi, um,"_ said a young sounding voice that immediately caught Rogue's full attention. _"I'm a mutant and I…"_ Rogue could hear them swallow hard as if on the verge of tears, _"and I… I…"_

"Would you like to come here?"

There was silence and Rogue had the idea that they were nodding, then remembered that she couldn't see them. _"Ye-es."_

"Okay, where are you? We can send someone around to pick you up—"

Whoever it was immediately burst into tears. They tried to speak through those tears, and Rogue had a hard time making sense of the garble, but eventually got a location out of them.

"Okay, we'll send someone over to get you. Is it safe for you to stay where you are? Do you have a number we can contact you on?"

Another garbled mess followed for Rogue to decipher, but she got there. Rogue left further reassurance, and then they hung up.

Rogue immediately took the phone off the hook before it could start ringing again, and got up to speak with Storm.

* * *

Shortly thereafter, Rogue was in the Blackbird with Bobby, Jubilee, and Logan. It felt a little like overkill, but they had no way of knowing whether it was a trap or not. With all the publicity the school had been getting lately, they couldn't ignore the possibility.

"So I have this brilliant idea," Bobby said eagerly as they flew. "Action figures!"

"What?" Jubilee asked, giving him an odd look. "Action figures? Huh?"

"Yeah, X-Men action figures." Bobby grinned, rubbing his hands together. "And any other merch we can think of."

Jubilee gave him a long look while Rogue shook her head.

"Why would we want to sell X-Men merch?" Jubilee asked.

"Well, to offset some of the costs of running the school for a start," Bobby replied. "And given the number of parents wanting to unenroll their kids lately, I'm guessing our income stream is going to slow up."

"Yet those have actually been in the minority of parent calls we've been getting lately," Jubilee said. "I know, I was surprised too, but who am I to argue with Justine?"

"That's still less money coming in," Bobby said staunchly. "And I just think it would be a good idea to take advantage of this attention before it goes away."

"We'd have to make the shop a separate entity," Rogue said from the pilot's chair. "But you could have a message like 'all profits from sales go to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters youth shelter' or something like that."

"Wait," Jubilee cut in before Bobby (whose face had lit up with joy) could respond. "You actually like the idea?"

"I like any idea that puts this nonsense to good use," Rogue replied.

"Even ideas that require us to make a public X-Men team and possibly do interviews and stuff?" Bobby said, excited but with a note of caution in his voice.

"If there's actually a practical purpose and it's not all just for show or sensationalism, then sure."

"Yes!" Bobby pumped his arms in the air.

"What would this public X-Men team even do?" Jubilee asked. "They can't just ride on 'I beat up some Reavers' fame forever."

"No, no, of course not," Bobby replied agreeably. "No I was thinking, aside from being the ones the action figures and stuff is based on, we could…" he sighed.

Jubilee nodded. "Uh huh."

"No, it's not that," Bobby said quickly. "It's just that most of my ideas are long term. Maybe medium term."

"Like?"

"Well, like franchising Xaviers. Or just creating a chain of after school mutant classes, y'know, for learning to control your powers," he said. "And for the less practical stuff: a video game."

"Ah ha! Here it comes!" Jubilee grinned at Bobby. "That's what this is really about. You want to play yourself in a video game."

"Well, you have to admit that would be pretty cool. I'm thinking: X-Men vs Reavers, like Mortal Kombat." He started punching in the air, complete with sound effects.

"YouTube videos," Rogue said.

Jubilee and Bobby looked towards her. "What?" "Huh?"

"You want something short term? Start a YouTube channel, or equivalent," Rogue said. "We can post informative videos about mutants and self defence and whatever. Maybe the occasional just for fun video."

"That's brilliant!" Bobby exclaimed. "Yes! We'll do that! Ah ha!"

Jubilee looked between Bobby and Rogue. "You know, I think you guys breaking up was the best possible thing for your relationship. You don't argue anywhere near as much."

"Okay we need video equipment—" Bobby said.

"I think it helps that the pressure's off," Rogue said to Jubilee.

"—and we need crew—"

"Yeah, I can see that," Jubilee replied.

"—and people to agree to be on the team—"

Logan cut in with a loud clearing of his throat. "Rogue, how much longer is this flight?"

Rogue grinned. "We've still got another ten minutes or so."

"Well, make it a quick ten minutes, would ya?"

"I'll do my best."

In due time, Rogue landed the Blackbird as close as she could get to the young mutant's location, and the four made their way from there. Rogue and Jubilee went in front with Logan and Bobby following separately.

"Okay, there's the pizzeria," Rogue said as they walked through the suburban town. "So there should be a McDonalds—"

"Right there," Jubilee said, pointing.

"Okay, well, this is the spot then," Rogue said, and stopped to look around for the young mutant.

Jubilee stopped beside her and started to look around as well. There was a bit of awkward standing around before they heard a faint shuffling noise behind them. They turned to see a scrawny, hooded figure creeping towards them.

"Hi," Rogue greeted her gently.

The figure looked up, and lizard-like eyes met Rogue's green ones. "You're the girl from the Reaver's fight."

"Yeah, that's right," Rogue replied, and held a hand out to her. "I'm…I'm Rogue. And this is my friend, Jubilee."

Jubilee waved. "Hi."

"L-lucy," the girl stammered.

"Nice to meet you, Lucy," Jubilee said. "You ready to get going?"

Lucy nodded eagerly. "Please."

They began to walk back down the street. As they passed by the pizzeria, four young men came out. One of them looked them over.

"Oh, hey Lucy," he said with a sneer in his voice, and his friends turned to look. "Was wondering where you went to."

Lucy curled into Rogue's side. As the man stepped towards her to grab her, Rogue wrapped one arm around Lucy and stepped in front of her, blocking him.

"Move out of the way, sweetheart," he said.

"Uh, Damian—" one of the others started to say.

"Back off, pumpkin," Rogue retorted looking him dead in the eye with snide colouring the epithet.

"Damian," the friend said more forcefully, "I think that's the ex-mutie, uh, ex-mutant who beat up the Reaver."

"Don't be stupid," Damian said mockingly, his eyes not leaving Lucy. "That was all the way in New York."

"You know, there are these things," Jubilee said cynically, "that people use to travel to different places. Some people use cars for long distance, and some people use trains. Oh, and there's these new-fangled things called 'planes' that are really popular nowadays. You may have heard of them."

A couple of the guys had a snicker at Damian's expense. Damian stuck his finger up at Jubilee.

"Come here, Lucy," he said, "before I rearrange the faces of your pretty new friends."

Rogue let go of Lucy, but stayed in front of her, and pushed her sleeves up above her elbows. "You lay one finger on her, on any of us, and I'll break it."

Her voice was cold, her face stone, and her eyes full of dire promise as she held his gaze. Uncertainly flickered in his eyes for a moment, just long enough to cause a crack in his armour.

"Back. Off." She said firmly, her eyes never leaving his, and when he neither moved, nor replied, added: "Now."

There was a pause and then he stepped back. "If I ever see you around here again—"

"Oh please," Rogue cut in as Jubilee took Lucy's hand and began to tug her away. "Spare me having to listen to your pathetic attempt to save face in front of your friends. You have no pride, male or otherwise. You lost any you may have had the day you started to bully people."

That was apparently the last straw. He swing at her, but she grabbed his arm and twisted it against his back, causing him to double over and his friends to swear.

"Look, asswipe, this can go one of two ways," she said as Jubilee led Lucy away. "You can pursue the violent path and I'll direct the police to your hospital room after, or you can apologise like a real man would for your terrible behaviour this afternoon." Her eyes flickered over to his friends who seemed uncertain about whether or not to act. "And I'm quite happy to take on all four of you if I have to. I do love a good brawl."

After a long pause, Damian mumbled something.

"What was that?" Rogue demanded. "Speak up."

"Sorry," he said, louder than before.

"For what?"

She felt him take a deep breath.

"For my terrible behaviour this afternoon," he said grudgingly.

"Hmm." Rogue grunted and let him go. "I suppose that'll do, even if I know you don't really mean it." She gestured to the group to precede her as Damian backed off quick-smart. She had no intention of turning her back to them. "Have a good evening gentlemen."

The four left immediately without another word, or a look at Damian. Rogue only continued on her own way once she was satisfied they were far enough away.

Bobby joined her side as they walked back to the Blackbird. Rogue couldn't see Logan, but she knew he was nearby.

"That was so cool," he said, holding up his phone. "I got it all here."

Rogue groaned. "Please don't tell me you're going to put that on YouTube."

"Huh? Oh, no." Bobby shook his head. "Insurance. In case those guys decide to tell tales about what happened here. After all, the whole point of the team coming here was in case it turn out to be a set up or something."

"Turned out to be something all right," Rogue muttered, then sighed. "Okay, that was probably a good idea, Bobby."

"Thanks."

Jubilee and Lucy were already waiting at the Blackbird, as was Logan, when Bobby and Rogue arrived. Rogue opened it up and they headed inside.

"You weren't really going to take on all four of them, were you?" Jubilee asked Rogue after Lucy was introduced and settled inside. "I know you've been taking extra classes with Logan but…"

"If I had to," Rogue replied with a shrug as she prepared for flight. "It wasn't that much of a risk."

"There were four of them."

"I only needed to hold out for the five seconds it would take for Logan and Bobby to back me up," Rogue flashed a grin at Jubilee. "I know I'm good, but I'm not that good. Yet."

Jubilee laughed and Logan smiled.

"Alright, let's go," Rogue said with a quick glance at the time. "I have a date tonight."

* * *

Rogue lifted her glass to her lips to hide her amusement as Lionel spoke with great enthusiasm about the Reavers. There had been some new styles of prosthetics in the fight with Bobby and Piotr, apparently. She hadn't noticed, and she doubted the boys had, but she wouldn't have been at all surprised to find out that Lionel had watched the whole fight on freeze frame.

"I'm sorry," he said, abruptly cutting himself off, "I must be boring you."

Rogue shook her head. "It's fine. I get it, you're rather passionate about the Reavers—"

"I don't condone what they do," Lionel said firmly. "I just really like their tech."

"So I gathered."

"Although I do wonder why they do some of the things they do," Lionel went on with a thoughtful frown. "I mean, I know some people like to write them off as being a bunch of mindless thugs, but I just don't buy the theory that they only shot up the theatre because they got the time of the matinee session confused."

Rogue shook her head. "I can't believe that's even a theory. No, wait, I can believe it. I can't believe so many people take it seriously. Okay sure, they could have gone there to steal money from the patrons, but if you were going to do something like that, you'd go to one of the sold out performances in the evening."

"Exactly!" Lionel said, and he thumped the table in his enthusiasm. "That's exactly it. So whatever it was they were actually after, they didn't want there to be a lot of people around."

"There were still people around though. I mean, if they didn't want anyone around, they could've gone in the dead of night, or in the wee hours of the morning." Rogue considered for a moment. "Yeah, that's when I would've gone, at like 4 or 5 in the morning."

"So, basically, they wanted witnesses," Lionel said. "And I think what they wanted to do was bring the theatre down."

"Why? What profit would there be in mindless destruction?" Rogue asked.

Lionel shrugged. "I'm guessing the manager or owner was behind it. Probably want insurance money, or maybe they want to modernise the place but it's heritage listed or something. Or…" he hesitated.

"Or what?"

He shook his head. "Nah forget it."

"Okay…"

"I've got a theory. Well, it's not really a theory. It's a thought. There's too much that I haven't figured out yet, so it's still in 'thought' stage hoping to be promoted to theory." Lionel shook his head. "Anyway, just forget it. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"Hmm," was all Rogue replied, and she took another sip of her drink before retuning to her food.

"I've told other people and they think I'm being ridiculous," Lionel admitted ruefully. "So I'm being selective about who I tell now, and as good as it's been chatting with you about this stuff, what with you actually listening and not telling me to shut up about the Reavers already." Rogue cracked a grin. "I don't know if I can trust you enough yet to tell you this without being ridiculed."

Rogue nodded. "That's fair."

After a short, awkward silence, they fell into small talk until they found something else of substance to discuss. They continued to chat long after they finished dinner, finally paid the bill, and then headed down to the car park. Both of them had motorcycles, though Lionel's was designed for people with wheelchairs. They made their final farewell, and departed.

Rogue was just headed down the hallway to her bedroom when Gambit came out of his.

"Oh, hey you're home early," he said.

Rogue glanced at the time. "No, I'm home about the time I wanted to get back by. I do have work in the morning."

"Ahh, well, that's good," Gambit went on blithely. "For a second there I thought your date went badly. Was it a date?"

"Yeah, turned out to be a date," Rogue replied with a nod as she stopped at her door. "And yeah, it went okay."

Gambit leaned up against the wall beside her and flipped a card between his fingers. "Just okay, huh?"

She shrugged with mixed feelings about his interest. "We talked, we ate. Nothing earth-shattering."

"Well, that's good, or I'd wonder how we all survived the earth shattering," he said with a wink.

Rogue smiled and reached for the door handle. "Oh? I'm sure you've had plenty of earth-shattering dates. Or am I giving you more credit than you deserve?"

Gambit grinned. "You know, when you put it that way, that could explain my current dating problem."

"I thought I was your dating problem." The words were out of her mouth before she could censor them. "Sorry, forget I said that—"

"You might be dating, but you're never a problem, ma chere," Gambit cut in firmly, but quietly. "Would that I could seduce you as you so deserve but…" he shook his head. "Let's be honest, by the time I get my powers under control, some other guy will have swept you off your feet."

"Sounds like you've already given up." Rogue tried not to sound bitter and failed.

"Given up? Nah, that's not my nature," Gambit replied with a grin that didn't meet his eyes. "Just don't have much hope for us."

Rogue turned and took a breath to speak. Gambit put his finger over her mouth.

"And I know you've said it doesn't bother you," he said. "But I just wouldn't be able to relax. I'd go to every date stressed I was going to hurt you and… You might be okay with taking that risk, but I couldn't live with the anxiety."

"Is this why you're moving out?" Rogue opened up the door to her room.

Gambit frowned as she walked inside. "How'd you find out about that?"

"I overheard you and Storm talking. I know you gave her your vials of the Cure too." She turned towards the hole in the wall, and discovered that the curtains had been replaced while she was out.

At first there was no response, then Gambit walked in through the partly open door as Rogue half hoped he would.

"Look, blowing the hole in the wall kinda freaked me out. I just had visions of bringing the whole mansion down." He sighed as Rogue slung her motorcycle jacket over the back of her chair. "It's still not fixed, by the way. But that'll be noisy and messy and I'll coordinate something with you."

"Okay." She sat down on the chair and started taking off her boots.

"Probably should've asked for an isolated room earlier. Would've been the smart thing," he said, looking down at the carpet by her feet as he continued to flip the playing card between his fingers.

"Why didn't you?" she asked softy.

He was silent for a moment, then said: "Because I wanted to be around people. Because just as giving up is not in my nature, neither is playing it safe." He gave her a crooked smile. "Believe it or not, ma chere, there's a big part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind. Especially when you're wearing those tight leather pants."

Rogue laughed as she slid off her second boot. Gambit shook his head.

"I hope Lionel appreciates just how lucky he is," he added.

"Sure he does," she replied slyly as she got to her now bare feet. "He's found someone he can ramble on about Reavers to, who will actually listen and get involved, and won't tell him to shut up."

Gambit opened his mouth to reply as Rogue put her hands to the top of her leather pants. Not a single noise left his lips as she undid her fly, then:

"You know what? I confess. You are definitely the reason why I'm moving out first chance I get," he said, watching as Rogue pulled off her pants, revealing the Under Armour leggings she was wearing underneath. "I have something in my pants right now just waiting to go off, and for once I'm not making an innuendo."

"It can't be both?" Rogue asked mischievously.

Gambit shook his head, his eyes not leaving her. "I'm going to tell Lionel on you, undressing in front of another man."

"Go ahead. I dare you," Rogue replied flippantly as she set her leather pants aside. "I'll tell him what I'm telling you: outer clothing doesn't count."

"Oh really?" He looked as if to say something more, then changed his mind. "Well, you want to go to bed, and I want to join you, so I should probably go. Besides, I have work and strenuous contemplation of tomorrow night's dinner shift to do."

Rogue chuckled. "Alright. Good night."

"Good night, ma chere," he said as he turned and headed for the door. "I hope you have dirty, dirty dreams. About me."

"Well, it is the only place you're getting any," Rogue called after him teasingly.

"You haven't lived until you've had Logan tell you 'that's not what the Danger Room is for'," Gambit replied, his voice full of mischief.

Rogue laughed as he shut the door behind him.


	5. vs Making Plans

**Chapter 4: vs Making Plans**

As soon as Morph found out about Rogue and Bobby's idea to start a show, he began taking over the project. He eagerly told them all about how he had just the right equipment for this project, and professional editing software too. Then he started asking questions, seeking to find the details to their barely formed ideas. They hadn't even thought about most of the stuff he asked about, and when they were too vague or ignorant, Morph started filling in the blanks himself.

"Okay, seriously," Bobby cut in, "where is this all coming from? How do you know so much about this stuff?"

Morph shifted into an old man. "I did have a life before I started teaching here, you know. Yessss, many moons ago, before Ororo remembered I picked up my teaching degree, I worked in the entertainment industry. Editing mostly, but I've done plenty of other stuff." He smiled as he shifted back to his usual self. "I wanted to go into comedy, but the world is not yet ready for a metamorphic stand up comedian." He eyed the group thoughtfully and rubbed his hands together. "Yet."

"Hey that's cool," Bobby said, and his impressed expression turned sly. "So, uh, when do you suppose we could get the first episode up?"

"Next year."

"But I wanted—"

"I know what you wanted, but it's too late," Morph replied. "Not if you want to produce something good. If you're fine with putting out something rushed and half-assed, you could put something up today, but I won't help you with that."

Bobby pouted, then tried to argue with Morph about it. Rogue cut in before the argument could get too heated.

"Bobby, don't argue with the professional. Besides, it's only smart to do a proper job of the pre-production. Less regrets later," she said. "Also, we don't even have a full team yet."

"But—"

"Our idea for a 'what to do when you find out you're a mutant' series is not going to lose its relevance three months from now."

Morph nodded at Rogue. "I like you. We can work together."

Bobby gave a melodramatic sigh. "Fine."

"Oooh," Morph went on, his eyes lighting up, "and I know just the person to ask to do a theme song."

"Theme song?" Rogue and Bobby repeated together.

Morph snapped his fingers and changed the subject with a knowing smile on his face. "Anyway, back to the reason why I came over here in the first place: Games Day this Saturday. I assume I'm in the same rec room as last time, and you haven't decided to switch things around again?" Morph gave Bobby the evil eye: it was overly large and black, and had exaggerated veins pulsing red.

"Stop that, it's creepy."

"Good."

"And yeah, you're in the same room."

The evil eye disappeared. "Good. I hate being jerked around at the last minute."

"We'll keep that in mind," Rogue said.

Morph grinned at her as he departed.

* * *

Games Day soon arrived. What started out as an exercise in exposing Storm's beginning emotion control students to potential new hobbies quickly became a bonding experience for the whole school. It was held once every three months, although the summer one was a lot more casual due to the smaller population.

This was the first Games Day that Gambit was not required to get up 'early' in order to participate in it. Rogue was not the slightest bit surprised that he headed straight to the rec room designated for card and board games. In fact, she expected it. It was the entire reason why she agreed to run the room in the first place.

"Why chère," he said as he walked over to the table. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Fancy that indeed," Rogue said as she looked up from the students gathered at the table.

"And what game is this?" he asked with a glance over at the packet of cards. "Skip-bo?"

"Yep. The idea is to be the first to empty your stock pile," Rogue said, and gestured to a small pile of cards sitting in front of each player, with the top card turned over so they could all see what they were. "There's only five cards in the stock pile for this. We're just learning rules and stuff. We can deal you in next game, if you want?"

Gambit shrugged and pulled up a chair next to her. "Don't mind if I do."

"Good," and Rogue handed him a pile of cards that had been sitting next to the draw pile. "These need shuffling. You mind?"

He chuckled as he accepted the cards. "Not at all."

As he shuffled, he watched as the five students played. Rogue explained the rules to him, and periodically reminded the students of the rules as well. Soon enough the game was completed. The students interested in continuing playing stayed, while others left, and a couple more joined them. Rogue went through the rules again for the benefit of the new students while she dealt the stock pile cards.

After a few games, they had enough players who were sticking around, so they increased the number of cards in the stock piles from 5 to 20, for a longer game. When no one else joined them, they played another.

The next thing they knew the school bell was going off, signalling that dinner would be served shortly. It was only then that Rogue realised the rec room was empty but for their group. There wasn't even anyone playing the console game that had been hooked up to the TV.

"Well, let's finish this off quickly," Rogue said.

It didn't take them long to finish the game off, then they all headed down to the dining hall for dinner. By then there was quite a crowd but most people had gotten their food and the line for the buffet was short.

"I'd say we timed this well," Gambit said as their group joined the line.

"Yeah. I hate it when it's long," Rogue said. "Just gives me incentive to stay in my chair."

"One of the benefits of doing kitchen duty is getting to avoid the line," Gambit said with a sly grin. "Incidentally, this is also one of the benefits of not sleeping conventional hours: I have no lines at all for dinner or breakfast." He eyed the queue they were in. "Just lunch."

Rogue chuckled.

After getting their food, they headed to their usual table. Only Pyro wasn't there yet, as he was the one on kitchen duty for that meal.

"I cannot believe I spent all day playing Skip-bo," Rogue said, shaking her head in amazement. "And didn't get sick of it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's fun enough, but there's a point…"

"Heh, yeah, I know what you mean," Kitty replied.

They chatted about how the day went until Pyro finally arrived with his heaped plate of food. He settled himself in the one remaining chair between Bobby and Kitty and looked over at Rogue.

"So, Rogue," he said. "How'd your date go last night?"

Rogue frowned and eyed Pyro suspiciously. She'd gone on exactly two dates with Lionel so far, and Pyro had enquired about both.

"Fine," she said. "Why do you care?"

"What? I can't be interested in the welfare of my teammate?" Pyro asked.

"The only time you're ever interested in the welfare of this teammate is when you can made snide remarks about me not being a mutant any more," Rogue said, and there was no mistaking her suspicion. "What are you leading up to?"

Pyro shrugged. "Well, I suppose I could make some tasteless comment about how you taking the Cure makes you the mutant equivalent of your human boyfriend, but then you guys would just point out that Professor Xavier was in a wheelchair too, so that seems pointless."

"Lionel's in a wheelchair?" Gambit asked the same time Kitty said: "Yeah, definitely tasteless."

"Yeah, he's in a wheelchair. Didn't I tell you?" Rogue said to Gambit, and without waiting for his negative reply, pointedly said to Pyro: "Still not answering the question."

Pyro was silent as he looked around the table and saw that Rogue's suspicions seemed shared amongst all of them, except for Jubilee who was eyeing him with more curiosity.

"Okay, fine," he said irritably. "The guy sounds like a prime candidate for either a Reaver recruit or a Reaver spy."

"Because he's in a wheelchair?" Rogue exclaimed. "Wow, stereotyping much?"

"That, and everyone says he's a self-proclaimed Reaver fan boy," Pyro insisted. "Even if the guy isn't working for them, that doesn't mean he can't still be passing on information. Information about us—"

"Of all the paranoid tripe—"

"Whatever. I'm just trying to look out for us. Have we even done a background check on this guy?" Pyro looked around at the group. "Maybe we should add his name to the list of the potential employees we're getting X-Factor to check out."

Everyone at the table burst out with comments all at once. It was Gambit's voice that cut through all the opinions:

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Pyro."

They all turned to stare at him.

"I'm sorry, did I just hear you correctly?" Pyro asked. "You agree with me? About something concerning Rogue, of all things?"

"I know, I know, it's absurd," Gambit said with a resigned sigh. "But what can I say? The timing is a little suspect."

"The timing?" Rogue demanded. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that when you two met, your face had been plastered all over the news. Now I'm not saying he deliberately sought you out, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be opportunistic," he said with a shrug. "If you had met before the fight with the Reavers I wouldn't be worried."

Rogue spluttered incoherently for a minute, then exclaimed: "I am not doing a background check on Lionel! I want to get to know him the conventional way, not poke around and dig up his past like some creepy stalker."

"It's okay, Rogue," Kitty cut in quickly and gave the group a pointed look. "No one is going to make you do a background check on Lionel."

Rogue eyed Kitty, not quite able to believe that they'd acquiesced so easily. "You're not?"

"No, we're not," Kitty said firmly, and held up a hand to silence objections from Pyro.

Rogue was silent for a moment, then sighed and said: "You're going to do one behind my back, aren't you?"

Kitty shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Kitty—"

"So, how did your date go last night?" Kitty asked determinedly.

Rogue pressed her lips tightly together for a moment. "Fine."

"Whatcha do?"

"We just went out to dinner again," Rogue said tersely. "We talked."

"Have you kissed yet?" Jubilee asked eagerly, her eyes bright.

Rogue glanced over at her friend and relaxed a little. "No, not yet."

"Awww why not?"

"No particular reason. I guess we're just not that close yet."

"How come he's in a wheelchair?" Gambit asked.

Rogue shook her head. "No idea."

"You don't know?"

"Nope."

"Ever asked?"

"Nope."

Gambit raised his eyebrows. "How come?"

"Well, I figure everyone probably asks him that and he's probably sick of it," Rogue replied and sat back in her chair with a smile. "Besides, that's kinda personal information. I wouldn't tell you guys why Lionel needs a wheelchair even if I did know."

Jubilee gasped dramatically. "You tease! How am I suppose to spread scandalous gossip if you won't go breaking people's confidences?" She shook her head, but she was grinning. "I just don't know what to do with you."

Rogue laughed. Jubilee snapped her fingers.

"Oooh, ooh," she said, waving her hands around. "Totally changing the subject here, but I've been thinking—"

"Uh oh!" Bobby cut in jokingly. "Don't hurt yourself."

Jubilee poked her tongue out at him. "Shush you. One of these days we're going to have to have a games night. I'm thinking Truth or Dare."

"Seriously?" Kitty said, pulling a face.

"Or maybe Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise," Jubilee went on. "It'll be fun!"

"Torture?" Pyro repeated. "Really?"

"Granted I don't know anyone who's ever picked that, or Promise either, but—"

"Wait, you've played this variant?" Kitty asked. "Who with? All your friends are here."

Jubilee gave Kitty a long look. "So, you've never made any friends at college? Because I have made plenty. And just who do you think I hang out with when you're on dates with Pete or are busy working on Danger Room programs?"

Kitty opened her mouth to reply, thought about it, and closed her mouth again. Jubilee grinned.

"So yeah," Jubilee went on. "We have to run our own games night and play some real fun games."

"Sounds great," Gambit said mischievously. "I vote for Spin the Bottle."

"Oooh, great idea!"

"Can you even handle Spin the Bottle?" Pyro asked skeptically.

"It's just kissing," Gambit replied with a nonchalant shrug and didn't look anywhere near Rogue. "It's not like it's strip poker."

"We are not playing any stripping games," Kitty said and took Piotr's hand in hers. "And I'm not all that comfortable with playing any kissing games either."

"So this is why Truth, Dare, Double Date, Torture, Kiss, or Promise is perfect!" Jubilee said gleefully. "You only have to kiss someone if they pick Kiss."

"And who are they going to kiss?" Kitty asked blandly.

Jubilee waved her hand. "We can figure out the exact details when the time comes. Hey, speaking of friends outside of Xaviers, we should have a party sometime and invite them all over. It'll be fun."

* * *

A few days later, Rogue was on phone duty again. She was pleased that they were getting a new automated answering system installed, although she never thought she'd be happy about that. Fortunately, the frequency of calls was starting to die down and the task wasn't quite as draining as it had been.

What interested her the most was, although it felt like the majority of calls were hateful ones, the reality was that they were the minority. The amount of hate just made them stand out more.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

"Good afternoon," said a distinctly familiar female voice with a Mississippian accent, "I am Carrie Ward. I would like to speak to Marie D'Ancanto please."

"Aunt Carrie?" Rogue exclaimed, sitting up straight in her seat out of both astonishment and habit.

"Oh? Do I already have the pleasure of speaking to my niece then?" Carrie replied. "I thought you were working at that mechanic place."

"Oh, I am. I was there earlier, actually. The phone's been ringing off the hook here lately, so I've been helping out during my off hours." Rogue said quickly, already wondering when the criticism was going to start, and hoping to postpone it as long as possible. "Xavier's is my home after all. It's only appropriate for me to aid in the household chores as it were."

"Yes, of course. I shall make this call brief, as you are working," she said and Rogue stifled a sigh of relief. "I will be up your way to attend a conference in February and I would like to catch up with you over lunch. Or dinner if that is easier for you to get to."

Carrie's tone was determined and Rogue was stunned silent for a moment.

"You…you want to catch up with me?" Rogue asked uncertainly.

"Yes, of course I do," Carrie said matter-of-factly. "It has been far too long since we last saw each other. This meeting is well past due."

Rogue was silent for a moment longer, then gave a huffy sigh. "Ah, right. No, I get it. You're only interested in catching up because I took the Cure, just like Mama and Owen. Well, like I told everyone else, if you couldn't handle me being a mutant then—"

"And when, pray tell," Carrie cut in, her voice firm and imperious, "did I ever tell you that you were no kin of mine because you were a mutant?"

"Well, I…" Rogue trailed off. Aunt Carrie hadn't even been in Mississippi at the time. "Well, you weren't there, so I guess technically you didn't say that."

"No, I didn't. And you never gave me a chance to say anything on the matter," Carrie replied. "Now, I will concede that with your parents and friends turning against you, you had little reason to believe I would think differently, but I assure you, if you had come to me after your father kicked you out, you would have had a home with me."

Rogue didn't know whether she could believe that. If it was true, she actually found she was relieved that things hadn't worked out that way. She preferred her aunt in small doses. Fortunately, she wasn't given a chance to reply.

"You have no idea how relieved I was to see you on the TV last month," she said. "The last I heard of you was when Priscilla told me they'd signed over permission for some youth shelter to take you in, but then she couldn't tell me what shelter, or even find the paperwork." She sighed and Rogue was glad her aunt couldn't see her smile. There were distinct advantages of having a telepath for a Headmaster. "Still, even if I couldn't offer to take you in, at least I knew you were safe. This world is not safe for homeless teenagers. Especially not homeless teenage girls."

"Oh believe me, I know," Rogue replied softly. "Found that out the hard way. That's six months of my life I don't care to repeat." She sighed. "So, when exactly are you coming up?"

"I haven't got the exact dates of my stay booked yet. I wanted to make sure I could catch you," Carrie replied with a knowing tone.

"Heh, well, I should be available for dinner most nights. Definitely Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I just can't be up late because I need to be at work by 7," Rogue replied. "The rest of my free time tends to vary depending on what chore rosters I'm on. I wouldn't be able to give you any other definites until close to time. Do you have a pen? I should give you my number."

"That would be appreciated, and I will give you mine as well."

They exchanged their numbers, and Carrie promised to confirm dates after asserting that they would definitely be meeting for dinner. After they hung up, Rogue stared at the phone, and then at the number she'd written down, not entirely convinced that conversation had even happened. She couldn't image why Aunt Carrie would seek her out, when her own mother wouldn't.

Her thoughts were disrupted when Justine called to her from the doorway. "I'll just be out a minute."

"Okay," Rogue replied.

Justine was gone no more than 30 seconds when Rogue heard the familiar buzz that someone was at the gates. She got up and looked at the screen to see a car stopped at the gates. She pressed the button for the intercom.

"How can I help you?" she asked.

The driver identified himself, then added: "I'm here for a job interview with Ororo Monroe at 4:30."

"Oh great," Rogue replied after a quick check at the expected visitors list for his name. "Just come down the driveway, park wherever you can find a spot, and head in through the main doors. There'll be someone to meet you in the foyer."

She pressed the button to open the gates as the driver thanked her. Storm and an unwilling Logan had been doing job interviews all day. This was probably the last one for today.

* * *

Thanksgiving was the next big event and Gambit was forced to wake up much earlier than his usual 1pm in order to prepare the big lunch. Everyone agreed it was worth it. He just complained about not normally putting this much effort into 'breakfast'.

Once everyone had gathered for the delicious meal (which was filling the hall with its mouth-watering scents), Storm got up to give a thankful speech. Everyone listened with some impatience, wanting to get to the eating part as soon as possible.

"And finally," Storm said with a knowing smile upon her lips. "Since the exposure of Xavier's as a mutant haven we have had to say goodbye to some of our friends, say hello to some new ones, and had to deal with prying eyes at our gates. So I am thankful for all of you, and for the community we have built together. For the protection and support that we give each other." There was a solemn pause. "And with no further adieu, I am thankful for this meal that Remy and his team have cooked for us."

Cheering followed, and everyone began lining up for the buffet.

"It all smells so delicious," Rogue said to Gambit as she eagerly filled up her plate. "You've out done yourself this time."

Gambit cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you going to say the same thing about Christmas lunch?"

"Only if you outdo this!" Rogue replied, heaping turkey slices on her plate. "I don't know how that'll be possible, but if anyone can do it, I'm sure that you will find a way."

Gambit chuckled.

Rogue finished filling her plate and headed back to her usual table with her teammates. They ate and chatted light-heartedly. Eventually Gambit joined them with his own plate loaded up with food. He smiled as he received further praise for his cooking prowess, and thanked them.

After a period where everyone was too busy eating to converse, Rogue broke the silence with a thought that had been floating around in her brain for the last few weeks.

"I'm thinking about changing my name," she said, not really looking at anyone in particular. "As in, legally."

"Oh yeah? How come?" Kitty asked.

"What to?" Bobby added.

"Rogue something-or-other—" Rogue began.

"Something-Or-Other? That's a funny last name," Bobby said with a big grin.

"Dork," Rogue replied, giving him a look. "I just… I dunno, going back to Marie seemed like a good idea after I got the Cure, but after seeing my parents on TV a few weeks back I find I really don't want to be a D'Ancanto any more. In fact the idea of staying a D'Ancanto is actually filling me with a level of repulsion that surprises me."

"Well, your parents were jerks during those interviews," Jubilee said sympathetically.

"Yeah," Bobby said agreeably. "Man, I am so relieved that neither my parents nor my brother felt the need to pipe up. Of course, that's because they'd prefer to pretend I'm not a mutant, but that's besides the point."

"Any ideas for a new last name?" Kitty asked.

Rogue shrugged. "It's one of those too many possibilities thing."

"Your new lastname should be One," Bobby said gleefully.

"I am not naming myself 'Rogue One'," Rogue said, giving Bobby a dire look as she pointed her fork at him. "Whatever my new lastname is going to be, it's going to be something that actually sounds like a lastname and not like a joke."

"What about LeBeau?" Gambit suggested with a wink. "I think 'Rogue LeBeau' sounds delightful."

Rogue threw him a bland look. "When's the wedding?"

"Oh, at the rate my power control is coming? Probably 10-20 years from now."

"Nooo!" Jubilee burst out, almost springing from her chair in objection, and everyone turned to stare at her. "Don't say that! You'll get control soon and then you can be together and get married and make babies. Soon! As in, like, 2 years tops. Not 10-20!"

"Chere—" Gambit began.

"My heart can't handle the will-they won't-they for 10 years!"

Rogue smothered giggles behind her hand.

"Jubes, I think you're taking this just a bit too seriously," Kitty said, giving her friend a good hard look. "I mean, for one thing, shipping real people is creepy."

"What? It's not like I'm shipping Rogue and Pyro, two people who clearly hate each other," Jubilee replied and gave Pyro a pointed look. "I'm not going around saying there's sexual tension and that all their fighting is just a cover for how much they secretly adore each other." She looked back at Rogue and Gambit, then at Kitty. "Rogue and Remy ship themselves already. I'm just their biggest cheerleader."

Kitty shook her head. "However you want to spin it."

"That's exactly how I want to spin it." Jubilee rubbed her hands together gleefully before picking up her fork again. "And I'm completely on board with 'Rogue LeBeau'." She gave them a big cheesy grin.

"Sure," Pyro drawled. "And when Rogue brings her boyfriend home, she can explain away the identical lastnames by saying Remy's her brother."

"Ewwww," Rogue and Gambit immediately said together.

Jubilee burst out laughing at their coordinated reaction and applauded. "You two deserve each other!"


	6. vs The Love Interest

**Chapter 6: vs The Love Interest**

December arrived and with it the holiday season. Many students went home to be with their families, as did some of the staff. Storm finalised the hiring of multiple new staff members, most notably a new assistant for Justine, a school counsellor, and an art teacher. Piotr was relieved to no longer have that particular responsibility.

Storm entered the rec room where Rogue, Bobby, Morph, and Jubilee were discussing their new show. The time off gave them plenty of time to figure out the many nitty gritty details they needed to take care of, and Bobby found himself feeling relieved that they had Morph to assist. He knew what he was doing a lot better than they did.

The TV was playing in the background, but the volume was low. Storm wondered if they just didn't want to be sitting there in silence, or if Rogue's tinnitus was acting up again.

"How is it going?" Storm asked as she joined them at the table.

"Yeah, not too bad, we're making progress at least," Morph replied. "Should be past the worst of the paperwork soon anyway."

"That is good."

"Now if we could just get a full cast," Bobby said with a frustrated sigh. "Okay, I know we could do the show with just the three of us, but I really think we need a fourth. It just doesn't feel like a full team."

Logan, Kitty and Piotr had outright refused. Pyro said he would only agree to be on the show if he could have time every episode to tell everyone why humans were inferior beings. Kurt said he'd consider it, but he wasn't sure that his being on the show was a good idea: he did try to assassinate the president after all, even if that had been under the influence of mind control. Sure, the whole matter had been quietly taken care of, and he was no longer in danger of being arrested, but that was hardly the point.

"Hey, Rogue, didja end up asking Warren?" Jubilee asked.

Rogue nodded. "He passed. He wished us the best of luck, but he's busy with other things."

"Rats." Jubilee pouted. "Now I don't know who to ask. I really think we should have someone who has a 24/7 mutation too. Representation is important." She nodded decisively, and sighed. "But the only other people I can think of to ask haven't graduated yet."

"We can always add them later," Morph said. "No one said the cast has to be static."

"I guess," Jubilee said glumly. "I just don't want such an addition to feel like an afterthought. Or like a token response to 'hey this show sucks you don't represent all mutants'."

"So instead you want a pre-emptive token response?" Bobby asked cheekily.

Jubilee gave him a dire look. "I will hit you. No, I'll get Rogue to hit you. She hits harder."

Rogue chuckled lightly, then said: "I think that, since we're serious about being able to help mutants, that it's important we have someone who isn't human-passing. None of us can really relate to not being able to walk around in public without being instantly identified as a mutant. You're the closest to that, and you can turn your ice form off."

"Exactly!" Jubilee gave the table a light thump.

"And on a related note, I think we should start using a word other than 'human' to describe non-mutants," Rogue said thoughtfully. "It implies mutants aren't human."

"I wish Pyro was here to hear you say that," Bobby said with a grin.

"I believe I may be able to help you," Storm said and everyone turned to look at her. "My nephew, Evan."

"Oh, Spykey-boy!" Morph said brightly, then frowned and shifted into the young teenage version of Evan he remembered. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure he's human-passing. Ordinary human-passing," he said thoughtfully as he shifted back. "Standard human-passing. Nope, don't like any of those."

"Not any more. Mutant powers rarely finish maturing before graduation, so between that and certain, ah, excessive lifestyle choices he made while touring, he lost control of his abilities," Storm replied. "He now has bone plates and spikes over his shoulders, back, and arms, and they appear to be permanent. They just grow back if removed."

"Huh. Touring eh? He get his skateboarding career off the ground then?"

"Yes. But when he was found out as a mutant he lost his sponsorships, and was not able to attract new ones. He has not been able to get other work, and has been living at home with my half-sister ever since. I did offer him a position here, but," Storm shrugged. "Still, this show you want to create sounds like something he would definitely be interested in. It could be that you can succeed where Vivian and I have failed."

Morph nodded. "Why don't you invite them over for Christmas? That way we can all meet him, or catch up with him, in my case." He frowned and looked at the other three. "You guys haven't met him, have you?"

"I think I did," Bobby said. "I think he graduated my first year here."

"I don't remember him," Jubilee said.

"I definitely didn't meet him," Rogue said.

"I think inviting them over for Christmas is a splendid idea, and I shall do just that," Storm said as she stood. "We have not solidified Christmas plans yet—" she cut herself off as she looked at the TV.

Everyone noticed Storm's change in attention and turned to look at the TV as Storm picked up the remote to increase the volume.

"…multiple mass prison breakouts across the country…"

They fell silent as they listened to the story. It was sparse on details, no doubt because it was so recent and the authorities were keeping hush until they knew what they were willing to share. But what they were able to learn was that the Reavers were claiming credit for the breakouts (during which more than just Reavers escaped). A man hunt had been initiated, but what limited footage they could get of the prisons showed that they were badly damaged.

Within the hour, a spokesman for the police did come out. He urge the public not to panic, that they were already working on locating the escapees and that several had already been returned to custody. When asked about the damaged prisons and where the thousands of escapees were going to be housed in the event that they successfully managed to recapture them all, the spokesman gave a vague assurance that didn't actually answer the question.

* * *

It was later than the 20-year-old blond man liked as he approached Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The sight of the tall cast iron fence and the mansion beyond felt imposing, especially in the early dark that comes with winter. Still it was less intimidating than the knowledge that there were violent escaped prisoners out there. If that news had come out before he started his trip, he may not have left.

As he got closer, he was plagued by the thought that showing up unannounced was a bad idea. At the time he'd had it, it seemed like the only solution. Now he felt like he should head to his hotel instead and try calling again in the morning. It was after hours now, and he doubted that his call would get through. He didn't like the idea of staying alone in a hotel room for the night either. He wished he'd brought some friends along.

His heart beat loudly in his chest as he approached the gates. Had the gates been closed he would've turned around, but they were open. He drove in and headed down the driveway full of both anxiety at what he was about to do, and a little safer now that he was at his destination and soon to be around people again: people who could hold their own against Reavers.

There were a number of other cars parked along the driveway near the front doors of the mansion, and he soon joined them. The lights were on, and between the good lighting and the Christmas wreath hanging on the door, he felt a little more welcome.

He stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

There was no immediate response. After what felt like forever, he lifted his hand to knock again and the door swung open.

Logan pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Party's that way, kid."

"Oh, um I'm—"

"Just go down the hall 'til you get to the dining hall," Logan went on, already headed back to the downstairs rec room. "Can't miss it."

The young man licked his lips as Logan turned his back on him. He steeled himself and began heading down the hall.

The dining hall wasn't very far, and quite easy to find with the sound of music and chatter of voices coming from it. The doors were wide open, so he walked straight inside.

The huge room had been decorated for Christmas. There was food set up on a buffet, and a number of tables had been pushed to the side and stacked to make more floor space. Almost everyone inside was about his age, which he supposed was the reason why he'd been sent in this direction.

He looked around earnestly, trying to find that one person he'd come here to see. The first person to catch his attention was a man about his age with a pair of white feathered wings. After he got over his initial surprise, he continued looking around the room. Then he saw a man in a wheelchair near one of the walls and there she was seated beside him. He walked forward, his eyes not moving from her face.

x - x - x

"Marie!"

Rogue looked up at the sound of her name and utter astonishment appeared on her face.

"Cody?" she exclaimed, leaping out of her chair.

Rogue practically flew the few feet between them before Cody could say another word and wrapped her arms around him in a huge hug. He hugged her back eagerly. When they finally pulled back from the hug (but stayed holding each other's arms), they spoke over each other in their enthusiasm:

"I've missed you!" he said the same time Rogue said: "It's so good to see you!"

"I know I should've called first, but the line was always engaged." "What are you doing here?"

"Or the gatekeeper wouldn't take a message." "I wanted to call you but I didn't know how to do it without asking a third party."

"I've been wanting to talk to you again for so long." "Yeah, I have never gotten so many phone calls in my entire life."

"Well, you did beat up a Reaver." "I think I hate phones now."

"And then your ex-boyfriend beat up more Reavers." "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Being able to beat up Reavers is a really useful skill these days." "He had help. So did I for that matter."

"By the way, can I stay here tonight?" "I hadn't looked at it that way."

"I can't beat up a Reaver." "I'm sure we could arrange something."

Jubilee, Lionel, Gambit, and the others with them just stared.

"How are they having this conversation?" Jubilee demanded. "How are they understanding each other when they are talking over the top of each other? I must master this art!"

"And I don't want to go back out there. Alone. In the dark," Cody said oblivious to the others. "With all those violent escapees wandering about."

"Yeah, pretty much all our guests tonight feel the same way," Rogue replied with a grin. "We decided to make this party a sleepover at the last minute."

Under Jubilee's direction, she, Rogue, and Bobby had invited several of their friends from outside Xavier's. Kitty and Piotr were visiting family, so they weren't there. Pyro had also been asked to invite people, but either he genuinely hadn't made any friends amongst his fellow journalism students, or he had and he didn't want any of them to know he'd made non-mutant friends.

"Oh good," Cody said. "'Cause you're way tougher than I am. Always have been, although I wouldn't have admitted it three years ago." He gave her a wink.

Rogue laughed, then sobered. "I'm so sorry about the coma."

Cody shrugged. "I know. It's okay. Accidents happen."

"I can't believe you're not mad at me."

"Yeeaaah, I admit when I woke up and found out what those three weeks cost me I was pretty angry," Cody said, completely oblivious to the others. "But I got over it. Not having you in my life was worse."

Rogue hugged him again. "I missed you too."

"I'm glad I finally found you again," he replied, and only then did he noticed their audience. "Oh, um, hi. Sorry to crash your party."

"Liar," Rogue cut in before anyone else could say anything. "You're not at all sorry." She turned to face everyone. "So, everyone, this is Cody. The guy I put into a coma when my power manifested. Cody, these are, mostly my friends: Jubilee, Remy, my boyfriend Lionel, and…" Rogue looked over at the other two. "Friends of Jubilee's whose names I have already forgotten."

"I'm Leisha," one of them replied, "and this is Petra."

"Oh, don't mind us," Petra said with a gleeful twinkle in her eye. "I'm waiting to see how the love triangle is going to be resolved. If it's going to be resolved."

Jubilee and Leisha laughed. Rogue threw them a cynical look.

"I can see why you're friends," she said dryly to Jubilee.

"Heh," Cody chuckled a little and held his hand out to Lionel. "Pleasure to meet you. Don't worry, not going to try to pick up where we left off, even if we were kissing at the time. Just here to see if we can resurrect a friendship."

Lionel gave Cody a faint smile as he shook his hand. "Good to know."

"You made that same joke in that interview you did," Rogue said, shaking her head as she sat back down next to Lionel. "'Even if we were kissing at the time'."

"It's funny because it's true," Cody replied with a grin, and sat down beside her.

"Yeah, you got to milk it for all it's worth, right?" Gambit said as he sprung his deck of cards from one hand to the other.

"Exactly," Cody said and gave him a nod. "Neat trick."

Gambit gave him a blank look for a moment, then: "Oh, the cards."

"You didn't know you were doing it?"

"Absent-minded habit."

"Ah, okay." Cody nodded. "Guess you must do card tricks a lot then."

Gambit shrugged. "Keeps my hands busy. So, college football, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Who is it that you play for again?" Lionel asked.

The boys and Rogue began discussing football. They were just getting well-entrenched in the subject when Petra cut in.

"Wait, that's it?" Petra sounded exasperated. "You're just going to be civil even though you're Rogue's boyfriend and ex-boyfriend?"

"Well, what were you expecting?" Rogue asked. "For them to start some ridiculous macho display of male posturing?"

"Yes." Petra nodded.

Jubilee and Leisha giggled while Gambit smirked.

"Well, I guess I must have better taste in men than you," Rogue replied. "Because I assure you, if things had descended into that kind of nonsense," she pointed at Lionel, "he would've been dumped," she pointed at Cody, "and he would've been kicked out. Well, kicked out tomorrow morning, anyway, not going to kick anyone out tonight."

"And we would've deserve it," Cody said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye that Rogue knew all so well, and an empathic thump of his fist into his other hand. "We're gentlemen. And gentlemen don't put on ridiculous macho displays of male posturing to settle who gets the lady."

Rogue shot him a look.

"Gentlemen settle these things with duels," Cody continued with a smirk, and patted down his jacket. "Hmm, I seem to have left my duelling gloves at home…"

The cards Gambit was holding (the bulk of the deck in one hand, and a single card flipping through the fingers of his other hand) took on a magenta light.

"You do so enjoy talking out your ass, don't you?" Rogue said to Cody with amused disgust.

"My ass is happens to be a very talented ventriloquist. See how it manages to throw its voice so it appears it's coming out of my mouth?" Cody replied with a grin and then caught the sight of Gambit's glowing cards over Rogue's shoulder. "Hey, that's another neat card trick you got there."

"What?" Gambit said, then looked down, only then aware of the charge. "Oh merde."

"Think happy thoughts," Jubilee said brightly. She felt a lot more confident these days about talking Gambit down out of an incident, now that they knew the secret. "Think about Christmas lunch."

Gambit grinned at her.

"Whatever are you making?" Jubilee asked. "Why are you keeping it a secret?"

"Because it drives you crazy not knowing," Gambit replied with a nod. "You, specifically."

"That's what I thought," Jubilee said as the charge disappeared from the cards.

"And speaking of food," Gambit said as he put the deck of cards back into his pocket. "I should get to seeing if the buffet need refilling. 'Scuse me gents. Nice meeting y'all."

"Nice meeting you too," Cody replied as Gambit walked. Then he gave Rogue a nudge. "What just happened?"

Rogue hesitated, and her eyes met Jubilee's for a moment, as if silently conferring.

"Remy has trouble controlling his powers," Rogue said finally. "Any time he feels intense emotion he risks blowing something up. That magenta light you saw? He'd charged up the cards."

"Oh wow." Cody said, then frowned. "What in the world could've set him off?"

Rogue shook her head. "This instance? I have no idea."

"We don't ask anymore," Jubilee added, "and we'd advise you guys against asking him. Not that he would tell you, but sometimes asking that question causes something else to get charged."

"Yeah, he thinks the times we can't figure out what's on his mind from context are the only instances of privacy he has," Rogue said. "Anyway, out of respect for him, I shall change the subject. To what I'm not sure, um,"

Jubilee opened her mouth to say something, but Cody managed to get in first.

"So, do you prefer Marie or Rogue?" he asked her.

Rogue smiled.

"Rogue, please," she replied. "Actually, I'm putting some serious thought to legally changing my name to Rogue. Just haven't decided on a last name yet."

"How about Robbins?" Cody asked. "Rogue Robbins. It's alliterative, like all good superhero names."

"I am not a superhero." Rogue shot him a cynical look. "And like I asked the last guy to suggest his lastname—"

"Someone else suggested their lastname?" Lionel asked.

"—when's the wedding?"

"Hmm," Cody pondered for a moment. "What about Saturday? We can do a Las Vegas weekend."

Rogue laughed, relieved that Gambit hadn't been there to hear that suggestion.

"So, who else suggested their lastname?" Lionel asked. "Bobby?"

"No," Rogue replied. "Actually, it was Remy. His answer to when the wedding would be was 10-20 years, since he can't control his power."

"Yeah, he's not dating or having sexytimes until he gets his powers under control," Jubilee said.

"No!" Petra exclaimed. "That sexy hunk of man is off the market? That's so not fair."

"He would agree," Jubilee said with a nod. "Hey, you should go flirt with him."

"I should?"

"Oh yeah, he loves flirting. He's always flirting with all us girls," Jubilee said. "It's his third language."

"What are the first two?" asked Petra. "English and bad English?"

"No, English and French."

Petra was quiet for a moment. "Okay, I'm going to go check out the buffet."

Rogue, Jubilee, and Leisha laughed as Petra took off.

* * *

Some people chose to stay up late. They watched movies or hid themselves away in the rec rooms to play private games. Gambit managed to get a friendly game of poker going. Others went to sleep, some in guest rooms and others in whatever room they happened to be in at the time.

Those who went to sleep in the dining hall were abruptly woken up by those on breakfast kitchen duty arriving and starting to prepare the meal. Some of the sleepers made a attempt to put the chairs and tables back, only for one of the kids on kitchen duty to takeover with his telekinetic powers. Artie was delighted for the chance to show off in front of all the college kids.

"You're still up, Remy?" Rogue asked him in curiosity as she filled up her plate.

"Well, this whole sleepover thing was last minute. I thought Bobby might forget he was roster on for breakfast. Or sleep in," he replied with a shrug as he added more pancakes to the buffet.

"Good point. How'd the poker game go?"

"Yeah, pretty good."

"Jubilee ever get that game of Seven Minutes in Heaven started?"

"She tried. And Petra tried to convince me it would be perfectly safe." Gambit raised his eyebrow at Rogue. "I think they ended up playing Truth or Dare in one of the rec rooms. You'd have to ask her."

"Oh, I shall."

Rogue sat down at her table just as Lionel was asking Cody what his plans were now that he was here.

"Well, I guess that's up to Mar-Rogue, really," Cody replied with a shrug. "I came up for the sole purpose of catching up." He looked at Rogue. "Of course, I had no idea what your plans were so I figured I'd be here a few days at least. As long as I'm back at Uni by the 27th. We've got a game on the 30th."

Rogue frowned. "You're not going home for Christmas?"

"Not this year. Me and Dad had a fight. One of those 'it was a long time coming' kind of fights."

"Ah."

Cody shrugged. "Tension's still a bit high right now so I figure the best thing to do is for me to steer clear for awhile. Actually it was kind of fun, just deciding I'd come up here with no plan. I hope they've made more progress on the man hunt before I go home though."

Jubilee giggled. "Did you want an escort home? Rogue could go with you. Have more chance to catch up."

Lionel cleared this throat uncomfortably.

"Aww, I'm sure I'll be fine. Just being paranoid is all," Cody replied with a shrug.

"Your words say no, but your eyes say yes," Jubilee said wickedly, then snapped her fingers. "Hey, a few of us can go with. How many can fit in your car?"

"Oh, um, five technically, but you really don't need to go to any trouble—" Cody started to say.

"Oh no you don't," Jubilee scolded merrily. "Don't you go luring me in with the prospect of a road trip and then take it back. Road trip tease."

Cody raised his eyebrow. "Um, between the holiday season, the snow, and the manhunt, this trip took me a lot longer than I expected it to. It'll probably be worse on the way back, unless you decide to hang around and go back in January."

Jubilee waved a hand. "We can take a flight back."

"I'm pretty sure you'd be lucky to get last minute tickets this time of year," Cody replied dubiously.

"I'm pretty sure we have a jet," Jubilee said cheerfully, then pointed to Rogue. "And she can fly it."

"Well, not there. We'd have to ask someone else to pick us up," Rogue said.

"Details!"

"You can fly a plane?" Lionel asked Rogue.

"Yeah."

"That's so awesome," Cody said, shaking his head in amazement. "Just when I think you can't be more of a badass…"

Rogue laughed.

"So, whaddya say? Road trip?" Jubilee said with a wheedling tone.

Cody held up his hands. "Only if I'm not putting you guys out."

"Yay! Road trip!" Jubilee threw her arms up in the air in triumph.

x - x - x

A little later, Rogue walked with Lionel to the garage where his motorcycle had been parked for the night. Their guests were slowly leaving in dribs and drabs. Only Cody would be staying.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "You seem a little quiet. Or are you just not a morning person?"

"Bit of both, I guess," Lionel replied as they headed down the hall.

"Does it have something to do with Cody?" Rogue asked hesitantly.

Lionel was quiet for a time, then as they headed into the garage, he said: "Yes and no? I guess, seeing you two together has given me food for thought. Making me think about what exactly it is that I want out of our relationship. And relationships with women in general."

"Okay…" Rogue wasn't sure what to do with that.

Lionel rolled up on his motorcycle and began securing himself in place. "I guess that sounded a little ominous."

"A little, yeah."

"Heh, well, when I figure it out, I'll let you know."

"I'd appreciate it."


	7. vs The Escapees

"I think I know why the Reavers decided to do their break out at this time of year," Bobby said as he stared out of the car window at the slow, almost unmoving traffic. "Everyone is travelling. They fit right in."

It was a few days before Christmas and Rogue, Bobby, and Jubilee were only a few hours into their self-appointed mission to escort Cody home. Bobby was already regretting it.

"Like looking for a needle in a haystack," Jubilee said musingly as she looked out of the other window.

"Straw. Like looking for straw in a haystack," Rogue said, giving Cody a side-long wink. "Finding a needle in a haystack is easy."

"Oh really?" Jubilee asked challengingly.

"Yep. You use a magnet."

"Oh. Oh, that's really smart."

"Okay but, what's the difference between straw and hay?" Bobby asked.

"I dunno, just that there is one," Rogue replied with a hint of malice. "And there wouldn't be any shortcuts to finding it."

"Whelp, this is one heck of a haystack we have here." Cody tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

"I wonder if anyone's combing it," Jubilee said, trying to look further ahead and failing.

"I hope not," said Cody. "This is enough of a bottleneck as it is."

"Hmm. So, I guess this is the time where I start suggesting car games?" Jubilee asked mischievously.

"Sure, if by 'car games' you mean 'mobile games'," Bobby held up his phone, "then yes."

"But Cody can't play!" Jubilee objected. "That's rude, excluding him, Bobby."

Rogue leaned forward in her seat. "Is that smoke I see up ahead?"

Everyone looked out the windows to peer ahead. Somewhere to the left of the interstate there was a column of smoke. Before anyone could question this further, they heard sirens, and as Bobby rolled down his window, a rumble that sounded like rolling thunder.

It wasn't thunder.

Two vehicles sped down the green strip in the middle of the interstate. The car in front was a large vehicle, with someone with a gun poking out the top of the sun roof, and shooting at the highway patrol car in close pursuit.

Abruptly the patrol car skidded and swerved out of control. Bobby groaned as he reached his hand forth, and a ice wall curled around in front of the patrol car before it could slam into the heavy traffic on the other side of the interstate.

The first car stopped firing and continued speeding off.

"What just happened?" asked Cody.

"Oh, nothing much," said Bobby as he wiped the sweat off his brow. "Just prevented a massive multicar pile up."

"Riiight…" Cody replied slowly.

"He threw up an ice wall to stop the patrol car from crashing into traffic," Jubilee said as she continued to peer out of the back window.

"Ah. Stopping the shooters wasn't an option?"

"Too fast," Bobby said with a shake of his head.

They continued the crawl down their side of the interstate. As they drove, two things came to their attention: the traffic on the other side stopped, and they saw the five car pile up that was the cause of the traffic delay on their side. There weren't any emergency vehicles at their location yet, but others had stopped to assist.

"Huh," Jubilee said as she looked at her phone. "I know you were like, half joking when you said you prevented a multicar pile up, Bobby, but you really did stop one."

"Hmm?" Bobby glanced at her.

"I'm just checking the news," she explained, then pointed at the piled up cars. "That happened when those assholes with the gun shot at the first highway patrol car that was chasing them."

"Ooooh."

"Ohmigod!" Jubilee exclaimed, her eyes wide. "There's a semi trailer on the other side of the interstate that's toppled over across the lanes."

"Well, that would explain the lack of traffic over there," Bobby said, looking out at the other side.

"And the smoke," Rogue said, with a frown towards the column of smoke that was getting bigger, and not just because they were getting closer.

Cody glanced over briefly, and returned to the task of driving them past the pile up. They were almost through the bottleneck.

"Hmm, I hate to say this when we're just about to get back into normal traffic, but maybe we should check it out," Bobby said. "If there's a fire, I can do something about it.,"

"Wouldn't adding water to that kind of fire just make it spread?" Cody asked. "I mean, there's gonna be gas and/or electricity involved, right?"

"Ah, but I'm not adding water, I'm adding ice," Bobby replied with a nod that Cody couldn't see. "And I'm not so much adding it as I am using it to cut off the oxygen. Fire can't burn if it has no oxygen. Also, I know it works. We've tested it."

"You're tested it?" Cody said as they finally made it through the bottleneck and were finally able to go the speed limit again.

"Oddly enough for this exact sort of situation," Rogue said musingly. "Oh, yeah, we're big on thoroughly researching our mutations. It's part wanting to know what we're capable of, and what our limits are, and part wanting to make sure we don't hurt anyone."

Cody nodded. "That makes sense."

It took them no time at all to catch up with the location of the fallen semi trailer, and the three cars that had either crashed into it or been side-swiped by it. There was no doubt that was where the smoke was coming from and there were a whole lot of cars stopped far closer than they wanted to be. No emergency vehicles appeared to have arrived yet, although there were several people outside of their cars clearly trying to help.

"We stopping?" Cody asked.

"Yep," Bobby replied.

With a suppressed sigh, Cody pulled up close to the green strip in the middle of the interstate. Bobby jumped out and took on his ice form. Jubilee got out as well, but she had her phone out, and recorded Bobby as he took his ice slide around the accident site and began putting out the fires.

Rogue got out as well to join the crowd and offer her services as someone trained in first aid. One of the others helping turned out to be a doctor, which was fortunate for the many injured.

Soon enough, the fires were out. Bobby headed over to the group with the limp body of the semi trailer driver.

"Okay, I know I technically shouldn't have moved him and that ice is a terrible thing for burns, but I figured he'd just get more burned if I left him there," Bobby said anxiously as he carefully worked to set the driver down.

"Hey, over here!" called the one person standing amongst the wrecked cars. "Can you move or lift this car?There's people still trapped in here."

Bobby immediately joined the man. He had a quick look, then created some ice pillars to raise the upside-down car. Others, including Rogue, hurried over to rescue those inside and tend to their injuries.

"Okay," Bobby said, looking at the ice and the wrecks. "I think there's one more thing I can do. "Maybe."

Rogue glanced up at him. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Well, it's not stupid exactly. I just don't think I should leave all my iceblocks around," he said. "In this weather they're not going to melt quickly. They're just going to be in the way, And possibly cause more wrecks."

"Point taken." Rogue nodded.

"So I'm going to move them. And hopefully some other stuff as well."

"What?" Rogue frowned, but she received no reply.

Bobby frowned in deep concentration, and Rogue watched as the ice shifted and reformed about the semi trailer. An icey platform grew underneath it, causing it to complain with a groan. Something like legs sprouted out the the ice along the side of the semi trailer and began to push it.

Rogue's jaw dropped.

"Since when were you able to do that?" she exclaimed as the semi trailer slid over to the side.

Bobby panted heavily as he released the ice. "I just…made it up…then…"

"Well, good job. Are you okay?" she looked at him concerned, ignoring the cheers and exclamations of those behind him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good." He turned his attention to the wrecked cars.

"Hey, don't over do it. A tow truck can take care of those," Rogue insisted.

Bobby looked as if to argue, but then they heard the sound of sirens. The emergency vehicles were finally arriving.

"Come on," Rogue insisted as she stepped up close to him. "You've done above and beyond what we came out here to do. This is not the time to be testing limits."

After a moment's hesitation and panting, Bobby nodded, and the two headed back to their car. Their departure was almost unnoticed, as the arrival of the emergency vehicles was of far more interest. Bobby got out of his iceform and got back into the car.

"That. Was. Awesome." Jubilee said to Bobby as Rogue got back into the front seat. "I'm soooo glad I decided to record that."

"Oh? You did?"

"Yeah, and I'm showing everyone when we get back."

* * *

Rogue was busy driving as her friends slept around her. The beauty of having multiple drivers in the car was that they could all take turns and they didn't have to stop anywhere to sleep for the night.

It had been an interesting day on the road. Jubilee and Bobby had looked up the ongoing reports of the accident and subsequent clean up, eager to see what they had to say about Bobby's involvement. There were some complaints that Iceman hadn't moved the wrecked cars as well, but there were also those who insisted he had no business moving the semi trailer to begin with. Over all, however, it was fairly positive.

Now the interstate was relatively quiet with the late hour. With her friends asleep, Rogue found her mind drifting back to a couple of days earlier.

 _"So, you and Cody seem to be hitting it off," Gambit said while sitting by the hole in their shared wall._

 _"Yeah. Sometimes I can't believe it's been three years since we last saw each other," Rogue replied as she pulled off her shoes and dumped them on the floor. "It's almost like nothing's changed."_

 _"That's cool that you can just pick up like nothing happened."_

 _"It's sure a lot more than I was expecting." She flicked her socks onto the floor and began removing the rest of her outer clothing._

 _"You know, I've been thinking," Gambit said quietly, not looking directly at her. "I sort of have a Cody."_

 _"Yeah?" Rogue walked over to the other side of the room to finish changing out of his view._

 _"Yeah. My oldest childhood friend. We ended up dating too, and ironically, we ended up parting ways because my mutation. Only well, it was my powers going out of control instead of manifesting like you." He said, a light magenta glow highlighting his melancholy tone. "I don't think we'll be able to pick up where we left off like you and Cody though."_

 _Rogue paused briefly and finished pulling on her pyjamas before walking back into his line of sight. "Was she badly hurt?"_

 _Gambit was silent for a long moment before replying: "She wasn't hurt physically at all." The magenta light glowed brighter. "Can't say the same for her brother."_

 _"Oh!" Rogue rushed over to take Gambit's hands._

 _"He always hated me. Never liked me being with his sister," Gambit said, then shoot his head. "I really shouldn't be talking about this. Just gonna make this worse." And Rogue knew he was talking about the charge._

 _"Well, I'm not gonna try and pressure you into talking to me, but you know you can if you want to, right?" she replied. "Or need to."_

 _His only reply was to stroke her hands. She had the feeling that his silence had nothing to do with her and everything to do with what happened with his childhood friend and her brother._

 _"Yeah, I know," he said finally. "But I don't think I could right now, even if I wanted to. Or needed to," he gave her a wry smile, "and not just because of the charge."_

Not for the first time since that conversation, Rogue wondered what exactly happened to the brother. Just as emotional stress could trigger the manifestation of mutation, it could also trigger flare ups like what Gambit was experiencing. Rogue had a suspicion the brother and Gambit's flare up was related.

Still, if he wasn't ready to talk about it, she couldn't force him. For that matter, knowing how much Gambit hated everyone being able to figure out his business whenever he felt strong emotion, Rogue suspected that he may prefer to hold on tight to what secrets he had.

Cody stirred in the front passenger seat and Rogue glanced over at him. Slowly he sat up and looked around.

"Where are we?" he asked.

After Rogue told him, he glanced into the backseat where Bobby and Jubilee were still fast asleep. He gave a yawn and grabbed the unopened packet of chips by his feet.

"Want some?" he asked after opening them.

"Sure."

Cody held out the packet and Rogue grabbed a couple. After crunching away on the chips for a couple of minutes, Cody spoke again.

"So, what exactly's going on between you and that Remy fellow?" he asked.

Rogue glanced over at him, then back at the road. "We're just friends. Why?"

Cody shrugged. "Well, I know you said that he's the flirty type and all, but he seems to be extra flirty with you." He pulled out some more chips. "But maybe I'm reading too much into things."

Rogue hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "If Remy could control his powers we'd be dating right now."

"Ah."

"I don't even know when I fell for the guy, but it's frustrating as hell. And I completely get why he's choosing not to date, but there's a big part of me that wants to take the risk anyway."

"Got it bad, huh?"

"If it turns out to be lure of the forbidden, I'm gonna be so pissed."

Cody chuckled. "So, you and Lionel?"

"I hadn't intended on dating when Lionel asked me out, but…" Rogue shrugged. "A part of me has been hoping something will spark and I'll get over Remy. Not that it matters now. I have a suspicion Lionel's going to tell me he'd rather be friends. Not that that's a bad thing. Actually, I think it's a good thing. I think we'll make better friends."

"Well that's good. Lionel seems like a great guy," Cody replied. "And hey. Nothing wrong with you dating around either, if that's what you want."

"I don't know if that's what I want. No, what I want, I can't have, and I have no idea how to move on." She shook her head again. "I keep thinking this would be so much easier if Remy didn't reciprocate." She snorted in disgust. "Jubilee is lapping it up."

Cody chuckled. "Yeah, that's the other thing that clued me in. Her interest in pairing you two off wasn't hard to miss."

"I'm honestly surprised Lionel didn't catch it." Rogue paused briefly. "Or maybe he did and that's going to come up when we have a proper talk. I'm not trying to lead him on or anything, I just haven't mentioned I have some…conflicting feelings right now."

"Yeah, I probably wouldn't mention trying to get over someone else if I was dating someone new. Not unless I knew them awhile anyway. No need to bog down a new relationship with history unnecessarily."

Rogue nodded and glanced over at him again briefly. "We've got some unresolved stuff ourselves, don't we? I'm sorry. You probably really don't want to hear about me mooning over some other guy when we barely got off the ground ourselves."

"It's okay. I was the one who brought it up." Cody offered her the bag of chips again. "Though I would think this would be old hat to you."

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked before eating more chips.

"Well," Cody said while raiding the bag of chips again himself. "For one thing, you had to get over me while I was in your head 24/7 hours a day. What was that you told me? That mine was the first voice you heard in the morning?"

Rogue smiled faintly. "Yeah. Most mornings."

"So really, you've already got plenty of experience trying to move on from someone who's around all the time." He grinned winningly at her.

"Uh, big difference. I thought you hated me. I know Remy doesn't."

"The me inside your head didn't hate you though."

"Yeah, a past you. A you that no longer exists," Rogue replied sadly. "We no longer had a future together in any capacity."

"And yet, here we are, friends again," Cody said teasingly. "Guess you were wrong about that whole 'no future' thing."

Rogue laughed lightly. "Guess so." She sighed, but not so heavily this time. "I suppose I should quit moaning about what I can't have in the present and start enjoying the present for what it is."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

* * *

They stopped the following morning to fill up the car and get breakfast.

They did not expect to walk into a robbery-in-progress when they stepped into the diner.

They certainly didn't expect for a couple of the other patrons to recognise them (or at least Rogue) and instigate a fight with the expectation that the Reaver fighting mutants would come to their aid. Which of course, Rogue, Jubilee, and Bobby did, because they weren't just going to stand by and allow them to get hurt.

Bobby froze over the two guns, taking them out of play. Jubilee sent sparklers around, but carefully, seeking to disorient the gang. Rogue aided the two patrons in disarming the gang of their knives and preventing them from picking up other potential weapons.

The gang ran out when they realised they were outmatched. Bobby followed and froze over the tyres of their car. He thought about doing more than that, but figured he'd just get in trouble for unlawful imprisonment or something. In any case, someone had apparently called the police because he could hear and see them arriving.

While Bobby went out to talk to the police and hinder the gang's escape, Rogue was kneeling by the side of one of the patrons. A knife was in his gut.

"No, don't take it out," she said, slapping his hand away as he tried to attempt it. "That'll just make you bleed out faster, and probably make the wound worse for that matter. Life is not a TV show, my friend."

An ambulance and more police arrived shortly thereafter. Statements were taken, and after a frustratingly long period of time, the four finally got their breakfast.

When they finally got back on the road, Jubilee and Bobby went to their phones to see if there was any news about what happened.

"Oh hey check this out. Someone in the diner was recording," Bobby said gleefully. "They even got the beginning of it, sneaky bastard."

"Ooh where?" Jubilee asked, then, "no, wait nevermind, found it."

Rogue chuckled and Cody threw her a grin from the driver's seat.

"Yeah, there's me freezing over the guns," Bobby said gleefully. "And there go the fireworks. Ha! Look at that guy!" Bobby chuckled, then exclaimed: "Hey, Rogue, that guy nearly took your eye out!"

"No one nearly took my eye out," Rogue replied dryly.

"That's not what it looks like on the video," Bobby said disbelievingly.

"The camera lies."

"Cameras don't lie."

"Oh yeah? I dare you to ask Morph all about how camera angles and stuff can be use to deceive people," Rogue retorted. "No one's knife came anywhere near my face."

"I don't know," Cody said thoughtfully as he pulled up at the traffic lights. "I was watching the live version, and there was a moment when I thought one guy was going to get you."

"You know Logan? Guy with blades coming out his hands?" Rogue asked him.

"Yeah…"

"Four times a week I have solo training sessions with him. Trust me. No one's knife came anywhere near my face."

"Yeah, voluntarily," Jubilee added, sounding a little disgusted. "It still boggles my mind that you would volunteer to have extra training sessions."

"That's because she's a badass," Cody said, giving Rogue a wink. "And there's nothing halfassed about a badass training."

Rogue laughed. Cody grinned at her and then got the car moving again as the traffic light turned to green.

"Oooh, and that's when that other guy got knifed," Bobby said. "Oh, cool, I didn't see you kick him in the face, Jubes."

"You were too busy looking in the other direction," Jubilee replied. "Ooooh, and this should be the part where—"

"Owwwwww!" Bobby winced.

Jubilee grinned. "Exactly."

* * *

The rest of the trip was uneventful, much to their relief. They arrived at Cody's apartment after midnight, unusually quiet as his roommates had gone home for Christmas. Messages were sent to concerned parties who wanted to know when they got back, regardless of the time.

In the morning, they had breakfast at a local cafe.

"Hey Cody," said the barista as she gave him and his guests a look over. "You know, when you told me you were going to go catch up with your first girlfriend, I didn't think you were going to bring her back with you."

Cody grinned. "When I told you that, there hadn't been a mass prison break. Rogue, Bobby, and Jubilee," he gestured to each in turn, "were nice enough to offer to escort me home. Yes, yes," he went on quickly, having noted the spark of mischief in her eye, "laugh it up. The big strong footballer was afraid to go home alone."

The barista giggled and Cody waved his finger at her.

"Since the place we stopped in to get breakfast got held up in an armed robbery, I was right to be worried, so there," he said, and poked his tongue out at her.

She laughed again, then shook her head. "I shouldn't laugh at that. You guys are okay, right?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Cody poked his thumb at Rogue, Bobby, and Jubilee. "They saved the day. Oh, hey," he said, "forgive my rudeness, this is Amy, my favourite barista."

"Hi," Amy waved at them, then looked back at Cody. "I do not accept flattery in the place of tips, remember?"

"How could I forget?"

"It's nice to meet you," Amy said to Rogue, "Cody's told me all about you. He was so excited about seeing you again. And relieved. He was really worried about you."

"So I heard." Rogue gave Cody a smile. "It's nice to know that at least one person from home was concerned about me.

Cody put his arm across Rogue's shoulders. "And you got two. Me and Aunt Carrie."

Rogue shook her head. "And no one's more surprised than me."

After a little more chit-chat, they gave their orders and sat down at a table with their food.

"So, are you and Amy just friends, or have you dated?" Rogue asked, having remembered that Cody had told her previously that he was just casually dating right now.

"Just friends. I'm not dating anyone I buy food from," Cody replied with a wink.

"You know, I can see the logic in that," Bobby said thoughtfully.

They enjoyed a casual breakfast, and then got the message from Storm that she was ten minutes away.

"Well, I guess this is it," Cody said to Rogue.

"I guess so," Rogue replied, suddenly feeling very reluctant to part ways. She hugged him.

"Next time we're going to have to make it a longer visit," Cody said, hugging her back.

"Yeah."

The hug went on for so long that Jubilee and Bobby started to feel embarrassed. They turned their backs to them and started making conversation about the weather and how much they were looking forward to Christmas tomorrow.

* * *

Rogue hadn't been back at Xavier's 5 minutes when she was alerted to a new mention of herself online. With great reluctance, she checked out the link, only to see a picture of herself and Cody hugging. Beneath the photo was a brief identification of the pair of them, a short explanation of their history, and speculation that they'd gotten back together. Rogue groaned.

"What?" Jubilee asked.

Rogue held out her phone for Jubilee to see.

"Wow, it sure doesn't take long," Jubilee said, stifling a giggle.

"This isn't even remotely funny," Rogue said direly. "Now I have to call Lionel and make sure he hears this ridiculous nonsense from me and not someone else."

"Think he might accuse you of cheating?" Jubilee asked.

"Lionel is far too sensible than to believe everything he reads on the internet," Rogue replied as she picked out Lionel's entry in her contacts list. "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't tackle it head on and stop any speculation before it has a chance to fester."

Jubilee nodded. "Yeah, good point."


	8. vs Spyke

**Chapter 8: vs Spyke**

Rogue was in her room on Christmas morning in time to hear the alarm clock go off in Gambit's room. A moment later the alarm was shut off, but there was no further sound of movement. When there was still nothing after a couple of minutes, Rogue opened up the curtain by the hole in the wall and poked her head in.

"Good morning, Remy," she called out.

She was answered with a grunt.

"Rise and shine!" she said. "Up and at 'em, sleepyhead."

"Five more minutes," Gambit muttered.

The alarm clock went off and Rogue chuckled as he flung out his arm to turn it off.

"Sounds like you just had five more minutes," she said.

He just grunted again.

"It's 9 on Christmas morning and you have food to cook."

There was a long growl, and then he said: "I know there's a 9 in the evening, but I refuse to believe there's a 9 in the morning as well."

Rogue giggled.

"Sun's not even at it's zenith yet," he went on and rolled over.

"Do I need to come in there and pull the covers off?" Rogue asked teasingly.

"Don't you even dare."

"No?" Rogue started climbing through the hole in the wall.

"What are you…?" Gambit turned in bed and partially sat up to look at her. "Seriously? You can't let a man sleep in?" He laid back on the bed.

Rogue finished getting through the hole in the wall, making it a little bigger in the process. "I feel like this is my cue to make a joke about how you should point out a man and I'll let him sleep in," she said as she brushed herself off, "but that would be a lie. I'd make him get out of bed just on principle."

Gambit grumbled, and waved a hand in the air. "Something about, if I had my powers under control I'd show you just how much of a man I really am." He pulled the pillow over his head.

"Ooh, promises, promises." Rogue climbed on the bed and tugged at his pillow. "I may just hold you to that."

The pillow took on a magneta glow.

"What would Lionel say?" Gambit mumbled.

"Probably just assume it was harmless flirting," Rogue replied with a shrug as she stopped tugging his pillow. "But maybe not that harmless… Hey, you know what you should do to get rid of the charge—"

"Rogue—"

"Start thinking about Christmas Lunch."

Gambit sighed. "You're just not going to let me sleep, are you?"

"Nope!"

He huffed and rolled onto his back to look at her.

"Fine, fine," he said with a yawn, and started to sit up, charged pillow still in hand. "I can't wait until I have my own place."

"Oh?" Rogue replied in challenge as she scooted off the bed. "You think a walk across the grounds will stop me?"

He gave her a long look as he got out of bed. "It will at least delay you."

Rogue chuckled wickedly and backed off to the hole in the wall. "Nah, I'll just leave earlier. Love your pyjamas, by the way."

"If you tell me they would look better on the floor—"

"Why Remy! I don't know how you got it in your head I would ever say such a thing to you," Rogue cut in, fluttering her eyelids in mischief. "I have a boyfriend, you know."

"It's okay, chère," Gambit replied, then paused while he took off his pyjama top (still holding the charged pillow). "You can admit it." A smirk graced his lips as he noted Rogue's eyes going to his bare chest. "Everyone wants to see me naked. I'm just that good looking."

Rogue paused at the hole in the wall and drew her eyes back up to his. "You're right. You should put us out of our misery and offer to be a life drawing model for Pete."

Gambit laughed, and the charge vanished from the pillow.

* * *

Rogue was on kitchen duty for the meal, along with a few others (all of whom complained about having to do chores on Christmas day). However, even with the smaller population, Gambit could hardly cook everything himself. Rogue didn't mind. On the contrary she loved seeing him at work.

"What are you smiling about?" Gambit asked her after putting the last of the meat to be roasted in the oven.

"Just enjoying seeing you in your element," she replied.

He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something. He stopped as if rethinking in, and shook his head with an amused smile.

"You know, I was going to say that if someone had told me five years ago that the kitchen would be 'my element' I would've laughed at them. But I don't think that's true," he said, and Rogue chuckled. "I mean, I can think of lots of other places I love to be and things I love to do, but I'm completely okay with being at home in the kitchen."

"I guess that's just confirmation that you're on the right track to getting your powers under control," Rogue said, and she took his hand to give it a gentle squeeze.

Gambit nodded. "Yeah. Even ten, fifteen years ago I would've been completely okay with being at home in the kitchen. In fact, I'm pretty sure fifteen years ago the kitchen would've been my favourite place." His smile was mischievous, but there was a flicker of sadness in his eyes.

"Oh? Stealing cookies?" Rogue asked teasingly.

"And the rest!" He replied cheerfully. "Anyway, enough chit-chat! We have salads to make."

* * *

There were three guests at Xavier's that day, and Rogue saw them for the first time during lunch. She and Gambit had loaded up their plates and made sure there was still ample supply at the buffet before joining their friends and colleagues at their table in the dining hall.

Vivian Daniels and her husband were seated by Storm. Evan "Spyke" Daniels was sullenly sitting next to Morph, who was busy chatting and apparently oblivious to Spyke's mood. Spyke was shirtless, though at first glance it looked more like he was wearing plate armour made out of bones with spikes sticking out. The armour covered his upper chest, shoulders, lower arms, and part of his head. Rogue was sure he must be cold, but she chose not to say anything.

Spyke looked up at Rogue as she and Gambit sat down in the two remaining seats.

"Hey," Spyke said, his voice cutting through Morph's chatter. "I know you. You're the one who took the Cure and is now beating up Reavers and stuff."

Rogue gave a partial shrug as she sat down. "You do a thing once…"

"Oh like you didn't know she would be here," Morph said, giving Spyke a pointed look. "I know you know Xavier's has been in the news because of Rogue, and Bobby, and Jubilee, and also Kitty and Petey who aren't here, but details."

Spyke shook his head. "Well, you know, some people come out as mutants and get famous, while the rest of us have to slog it out."

He stabbed at the beef on his plate with unnecessary force.

"Well it's funny you should mention that," Morph said, and ignored Spyke's heavy sigh. "See, we've decided we're going to start our own channel."

"Uh huh." Spyke's eyes remained on his food.

"It'll just be the one show to start with, of course. But we figure we should take advantage of this sudden spike of goodwill towards mutants, and see if we can't get some more awareness out there," Morph went on. "So, care to join us?"

"I'm not coming back to the X-Men," Spyke replied hotly. "I don't want your pity."

"Pity? What's pity got to do with anything?" Morph asked. "We want another cast member, preferably someone with a visual mutation that can't just be turned off."

Spyke sighed again and looked up. "Why?"

"Because you exist," Rogue interjected softly. "Because there are lots of 24-hour mutants out there who only ever get treated like monsters, even by other mutants, and that needs to change."

"Yeah? Well, why me?" Spyke demanded. "You don't even know me."

"Storm recommended you."

"Of course she did." Spyke threw a whithering glare at his aunt, who was too caught up in another conversation to notice. "Why not one of the 24-hour mutants here?" He looked pointedly at Gambit.

"They're all under-age," Rogue replied. "It wouldn't be right for us to ask one of them. Not for something like this."

"What about you?" Spyke demanded of Gambit.

Gambit snorted. "No thanks, I'm with Kitty and Pete on this one. I'm not interested in playing celebrity. But I understand that you used to be a pro skateboarder?"

"Yeah, used to be." There was no mistaking his bitter tone.

"So, this sounds like a good opportunity to get back to doing what you love," Gambit said with a shrug. "I'm sure you guys can do at least one episode dedicated to skateboarding—"

"One episode isn't—"

"And I see no reason why you can't put skateboarding videos up on this channel, in addition to this awareness show they want to start," Gambit went on blithely. "Your own dedicated skateboarding show."

Spyke's cheek twitched.

Gambit pointed his thumb at Morph. "This guy wants to get his own comedy show started."

"I didn't say that," Morph said quickly.

"You didn't have to. We already knew," Gambit replied with a wink, and looked back at Spyke. "And there's another reason for bringing you on board: you have experience with sponsorship deals and negotiating stuff. So maybe Storm was the one who brought you to our attention, so what? You have got a lot you could contribute to this project. It ain't like you're just being asked 'cause you're Storm's nephew."

Spyke looked at Gambit silently for a time, then gave a short nod. "I'll think about it."

"Well, maybe while you're thinking about it, we can show you what we have in mind so far," Morph said.

Spyke nodded. "Yeah, okay."

As Morph was more enthusiastic about the project than even Bobby was, it took all of five minutes before he started telling Spyke about everything they had planned. Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee, and Gambit watched on in amusement.

"We have the first five shows all worked out…"

"…had to run a few things by the lawyers. Don't want to accidentally advise people to do stuff that's actually illegal…"

"…really want to do an episode about mutation aids…"

"Oh, you'd be good for this. We want to do an episode about mutants in professional competition…"

"…using the drama room for a studio to begin with, but I really want to get a proper studio…"

"…start filming our first episode in a couple of weeks…"

"…friend of mine is writing an opening theme. Actually, I think she might have been a classmate of yours. Remember Alison Blaire?" Morph promptly shifted into a blonde woman.

Spyke cracked a smile. "Yeah, I remember Ali. Hard not to. Ever get her music career off the ground?"

"I'm in advertising writing jingles and stuff, which pays the bills," Morph-as-Alison replied. "I play gigs whenever I can and I'm selling music online." Morph shifted back into himself. "So, I guess it's a work-in-progress kind of thing. Actually, I have some of her songs on my phone…"

He pulled out his phone, and everyone was spared Morph's endless excitement about his new project while they listened to Alison's music.

* * *

It was inevitable that they would decide to hit the Danger Room for a recreational session. Those who had pirate costumes got changed, and everyone interested gathered in the Danger Room to play their pirate program.

"Hmm," Gambit said as he stepped on deck besides Rogue and looked around.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"I see when I'm done with the suburbia program, I'm going to have to do something about this," he said.

Rogue giggled and gave him a nudge. "Are you ever going to be done with the suburbia program?"

"Sometimes I wonder."

"Ahoy me hearties!" Kurt called out from where he swung on the ropes above. "Let's go hunt us up some treasure!"

"He gets really into this," Gambit said musingly.

Rogue just nodded.

Armed with a treasure map (not to mention cutlasses, guns, and cannons), the pirates of the ship X-Ecutioner ("That name is the first thing I'm changing," Gambit muttered), sailed the seas. They hadn't been sailing for more than five minutes when Kurt spotted a ship off the port bow.

"Arr it be the evil pirate ship Annoying Scuttlefish!" Kurt declared. "Man the cannons!"

"The Annoying Scuttlefish?" Gambit repeated to Rogue. "Who came up with these names?"

Rogue chuckled as they began loading up one of the cannons on deck. "I don't know but if I were to guess, I'd say Morph." She nodded over to Morph, who had shapeshifted into a pirate for the duration.

Gambit nodded slowly. "Yeah, I can buy that."

Annoying Scuttlefish closed the gap between it and X-Ecutioner. The pirates on board both ships shouted nonsensical insults at each other until the sound of the cannons firing drowned them out. The pirates of Annoying Scuttlefish threw ropes and grappling hooks towards X-Ecutioner and drew them closer.

"Prepare to repel boarders!" Kurt called

Gambit, Rogue, and the others drew their weapons and attacked the invading pirates.

Perhaps what was more fun than using the holgraphic cutlasses and pistols was seeing Bobby's ice sword, Pyro's flaming blade, and Spyke's bone sword. Better yet was Jubilee using her pafs to set off the cannons and the enemies' gunpowder stores.

"She's gonna blow!" Jubilee yelled with fiendish delight.

The ropes binding their ships together were quickly undone and X-Ecutioner was turned away just in time. Annoying Scuttlefish blew apart, sending wood in all directions, much to the delight of X-Ecutioner's crew.

Onwards they sailed, guided by their precious map to the mysterious Island of Shiny Things where the treasure of Captain Nosemuck was buried.

"Were you the one naming all this stuff?" Gambit demanded of Morph as they rowed to shore.

"Me? No," Morph shook his head. "I don't know who wrote this program, but it was made before I became a student here."

"Huh. That explains why it needs an update," Gambit said, looking around critically.

Morph chuckled. "I think it has been updated from time to time, but yeah, if you wanted to update it I wouldn't complain. I've seen that suburbia program."

"Me too," Kurt said eagerly. "I like this program, but there is so much I would change given the chance. What do you think about collaborating?"

Gambit shrugged. "Sure why not? I could use a break from the suburbia program occasionally."

"You do Danger Room programming?" Spyke asked.

"Yeah. Mostly I do objects and buildings," Gambit replied. "I leave the battle mechanics and stuff to Kitty."

"We'll have to show you the suburbia program later," Morph said eagerly. "It's amazing. It's the best program we have."

"It's not finished," Gambit added with a grin. "It is so far away from finished, it's not funny. Really. It's not funny at all. I feel like I will never be done with it."

Their conversation was halted there as they finally made it to the shore. Kurt consulted the map and they began their treasure hunt.

They walked through what were effectively marked paths through the jungle, looking out for blatantly obvious landmarks. ("I already can't wait for you to reprogram this, Remy," said Morph. "I've seen your trees.") They solved puzzles, or perhaps more accurately, they resolved puzzles they'd already experienced several times before. ("New puzzles on the list!" Kurt declared.)

Finally they made it to the treasure site. They pulled out their holographic shovels and began to dig, except for Bobby, who made a shovel out of ice.

Spyke didn't start digging straight away either. He took a moment to collect and position himself. A look of sheer concentration appeared on his face, and a spike grew out of the bare part of his abdomen. With a grunt, the spike came out further, and with it a plate of bone in the shape of a shovel scoop. With a good deal of effort the rest of the plate emerged.

Before anyone could blink, or Spyke could stop it, the rest of the shovel came flying out.

It shot across the dig site.

"Gah!" Gambit exclaimed as the spike stabbed him in the stomach.

Everyone who looked up at that moment saw the spike and half the scoop embedded in Gambit's body. The entire shovel glowed with a magenta light that rapidly grew brighter.

"Popcorn. Popcorn. Popcorn. Popcorn!"

Spyke was cut off in the middle of a horrified, yet slightly confused apology by Kurt grabbing him and Morph, and teleporting them out of there. Rogue, Bobby, and Jubilee ran, all three of them yelling at the computer to open the door.

The Danger Room door opened. They ran out. Rogue slammed her hand on the close door button in the hall, and they kept running down the hall as the doors closed.

"Okay," Rogue said once they got to the other end, then promptly started running back again.

She ran to the control room and reefed open the door. Morph and Spyke were inside. Spyke was sitting to one side with his head in his hands.

"Kurt's gone to get Dr Ashton," Morph said, his eyes looking through the viewing window at Gambit's prone, naked body.

Rogue nodded. "Okay, good."

She turned and headed back into the Danger Room proper. She was just stepping through the doors when Kurt and Dr Ashton appeared in a puff of blue smoke by Gambit's side. As Rogue quickened her pace, Kurt took off his pirate coat and draped it over Gambit's lower half.

"Merci," Gambit said to Kurt as Dr Ashton checked him over.

Kurt gave him a nod. Rogue knelt down besides Gambit and took his hand. There was some blood, but not nearly as much as she expected, and the wound was a lot smaller too.

"Okay, good news," Dr Ashton said. "It's not that deep." She looked at Kurt. "Could you get him to one of the beds in the med lab? I'll meet you there."

"Certainly."

Rogue reluctantly let Gambit's hand go, and Kurt teleported them away. She and Dr Ashton stood.

"So," Dr Ashton said as the two women walked back out of the Danger Room towards the med lab, "what exactly happened? All Kurt said was that Gambit had been stabbed?"

Rogue shook her head a little. "It all happened so fast. Um, Spyke was making a bone shovel. There was a point on it," Rogue held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart, "about this big. Oh, um, the shovel was coming out of Spyke's body, and," she shook her head again, "I guess you'll probably have to ask Spyke himself about what happened. All I remember seeing is the shovel embedded in Gambit's body. Half the head of the shovel was inside him… I… I…" she trailed off in confusion.

"Hmm. That sounds like it would've caused a far more serious injury than what I saw," Dr Ashton said thoughtfully.

"Yeah…" Rogue frowned. "I'm sure I saw it that deep." She placed her hands on her abdomen and around to her sides. "I remember seeing it glowing, right here." She sighed and dropped her hands. "Maybe it was just a reflection."

"Maybe," Dr Ashton said as they neared the medlab. "But if there's one thing I've learnt since working here, is that nothing involving mutations is straight forward." She gave Rogue a nod. "I'll made sure to do a thorough examination."

* * *

Sometime later, Rogue stepped out of the medlab to find everyone who had been in the Danger Room with them, and Spyke's family, waiting anxiously. She was immediately bombarded with questions, which were silenced as Storm held up her hand.

"How is he?" Storm asked. "Kurt told us his injuries were not as bad as they looked?"

"Right," Rogue replied with a nod. "He only had a small, shallow stab wound, it only took a stitch to fix up—"

"I can't believe that," Bobby said, shaking his head. "I saw that shovel through him."

Rogue threw up her hands. "I did too. And Remy swears he felt it. But that was the only injury. It looks like the spike on the end of the shovel caused it. The scoop itself didn't leave a single mark. At least, not that we can see. Dr Ashton's doing a few tests to make sure, but the first couple she made when I was in there came out fine. I came out to fill you in and get him a change of clothes."

"He's really okay?" Spyke asked.

"Yeah, he's really okay. Pending the results of these other tests, of course."

Spyke nodded.

The others asked more questions, and Rogue told them what she could, which was little more. She then left for the uniform room so she could pick up a school tracksuit and a pair of new boxers for Gambit.

As she returned, she heard the raised voices of the Daniels family, and when they came into view she realised that the bulk of the X-Men had made themselves scarce.

"…could have killed him!"

"You don't think I realise that? Why do you think I've been spending so much time at home in my room?"

"It's a temporarily solution, if that. You can't stay shut in your room forever," Mr Daniels said firmly.

"I know that!" Spyke shouted. "But how is moving here any better? And don't give me the same old lines about being a better resource for learning power control. We don't even know if that's something I can even have again."

"We do not know that it is not, either," Storm said. "And unless you are willing to take risks, the kind of risks that are best undertaken in a controlled environment like the Danger Room, then we will never know if control is still possible for you."

"In the Danger Room today, someone still got hurt," Spyke muttered.

"In an informal recreational session, during which none of the other people involved were aware of your difficulties," Storm replied matter-of-factly, and gave Rogue a nod as she approached. "I believe you will find that things will go a lot smoothly if things like this are properly communicated. Rogue, if I may, would I be correct in presuming that your party chose to evacuate the Danger Room today because Remy used the safeword?"

Spyke frowned as Rogue nodded.

"Oh, yeah, he used the safeword alright," Rogue said. "First time I've heard him shout it repeatedly."

"Wait, is that what that popcorn business was about?" Spyke asked.

"Yeah, he has trouble controlling his powers too, and since his powers involve blowing things up, we figured it was pretty important for him to have a safeword," Rogue said. "Sometimes stuff blows up without notice, but those explosions are teeny-tiny. He's always able to give notice for the big ones though, which is good because that can get messy."

"I don't recall anyone having a safeword for the Danger Room before," Spyke said, still with a frown on his face.

"This is not the first time we have implemented that precaution and I doubt it will be the last, though it is uncommon," Storm said. "We take many precautions, and have introduced new ones since you graduated. We are always coming up with new techniques, methods, mutational aids and the like. You do not need to do this alone, Evan." She held out her hand to him. "Are you finally willing to come back?"

Spyke sighed irritably.

"Then allow me to make this easier for you," Vivian said to her son. "I'm… I'm kicking you out."

Spyke stared. "What?"

Vivian took a deep breath, and Rogue took that as her cue to continue to the medlab doors.

"You heard me. I'm kicking you out. So that means you either come to Xaviers or you find somewhere else to live because," Vivian paused and swallowed hard before continuing: "Because you are…not welcome…at home. Until further notice." Tears pricked at her eyes.

Rogue stepped into the medlab and quickly shut the door behind her. She shook her head as she returned to Gambit's bed.

"Hey chère," Gambit said, giving her a wave. "Was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me."

"Nope, just giving folks the heads up and temporarily getting pulled into the Daniels family drama," Rogue replied as she set the change of clothes on the nearby table. "It looks like Spyke's gonna be moving in with us whether he likes the idea or not."

Gambit grunted and looked down at his body, now covered by the bedsheet. "Just so long as he doesn't throw any more shovels at me."


	9. vs Each Other

**Chapter 9: vs Each Other**

Late Saturday afternoon Rogue wandered out to the old boathouse. Gambit and Logan were hard at work putting up new walls. She made sure to make plenty of noise as she got close, as she didn't want to startle Gambit out of his concentration and blow holes into the new place before it was even finished.

"Hey Rogue," Logan greeted her before she could open her mouth. "You here to chit-chat or to lend a hand?"

Rogue eyed Logan for a moment. "There's only one answer to that question, isn't there?"

"Yup."

"What can I do to help?"

Logan pointed with his claws to a pile of cut boards. "Give Gumbo a hand putting those up."

Rogue glanced from the boards to the part of the wall that Gambit was working on. Several boards were already fixed in place. Logan was busy cutting the boards to size, using his claws rather than a saw.

"Alright," Rogue said and nodded towards his efforts. "Doesn't that get you splinters?"

"Nope."

"Okay then." With a shrug she turned to pick up the first board.

"Lift with your knees, not with your back," Logan added before she even attempted lifting anything.

"Ugh, you sound like my Aunt Carrie. What's next, Logan? You gonna tell me to sit up straight at the dinner table?"

Gambit chuckled. Logan just gave Rogue a long, silent look. Rogue poked her tongue out at him, then picked up the board. She lifted with her knees, as had been drilled into her as a kid.

"Aren't you going to be seeing your aunt soon?" Gambit asked Rogue as they set the board into position.

"Yeah, early February." Rogue sighed heavily. "I can't wait until it's over it."

"Expecting it to go bad?"

"I'm expecting her to be her usual strict, opinionated self," Rogue said with irritation. "She's always right, just ask her, she'll tell you all about it. Probably has a list of things she can't wait to criticise me on."

"Do I need to ring you at a set time so you can have an excuse to leave early?" Gambit asked with a grin.

"Tempting, but it will only draw things out in the end."

Gambit chuckled. They set the board in place and got the next one.

"So," Gambit said, "How'd your date go with Lionel last night?"

"Yeah, not too bad. We broke up."

"Ah. Got the friend speech you were expecting?"

"Yup. But it's cool. The feeling was mutual." Rogue gave Gambit a grin. "Besides, there's someone else I'd rather be with."

Gambit sighed. "It's Kurt, isn't it?"

"Kurt? No!" Rogue turned up her nose. "I love Kurt, but as like, a big brother or something."

Gambit snickered and Rogue blew raspberries at him.

"Although, speaking of Kurt," Rogue went on, "has he talked you into making yourself a new pirate costume yet?"

"No, but he's working on it."

Rogue chuckled. She wanted to ask him if they'd figured out the whole impaling thing yet, but decided against it. She didn't want to cause an incident by bringing it up. She mentally kicked herself for even asking about the pirate costume.

"Speaking of which," Gambit said once they finished with the board and turned to get the next one, "we were going over the data from the Christmas Day session and found out something…interesting."

Rogue paused and looked at him curiously. "You sound like 'interesting' isn't the word you really want to use."

"Heh, well, I guess it depends on how you look at it," Gambit replied with a shrug. "There wasn't a great deal of data collected about the impaling itself," his gloves flickered briefly with magenta light, "but the actual speed at which that shovel left Spyke's body was impressive. We ran a couple of sims, and yeah, I should either be dead or in a critical condition right now." He shuddered and the magenta light flickered across his clothing again.

"We don't need to talk about this if—" Rogue began.

"Ain't the first time I should've died, but didn't," Gambit replied, and the charge returned to his clothes and stayed this time. An irritated expression appeared on his face. "Look, if I tell you, then you can tell everyone else who's curious but too afraid to ask in case this," he gestured to himself, "happens."

Rogue smirked. "Okay, point taken."

"So. The conclusion we've come to is that my powers are still developing. Because apparently it's perfectly normal for mutants not to come into their full power until their mid-to-late twenties. Sometimes even early thirties. So yay," he said sarcastically, "that makes me feel soooo much better."

Rogue frowned. "What does that have to do with—"

"You missed a step there," Logan said to Gambit, then looked at Rogue. "What we think happened is that Gumbo here immediately started charging the shovel the moment it touched him. When the shovel reached popcorn intensity, it was able to pass through him without touching him. We did a couple of tests of that theory and it seems to check out."

Rogue looked between Logan and Gambit, and settled on Gambit. "You can phase through walls now?"

He blinked, then chuckled disbelievingly. "Well, didn't think of it like that, but yeah, I suppose. Sure as hell not going to start doing that, though. One slip and the whole place would explode."

"That would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?" Rogue said.

"Yeah, just a bit." Gambit took a deep breath and turned his attention to the next board, his clothes still charged. "Anyway, we should get back to work."

* * *

Rogue and Gambit looked up from eating their late night snack as Spyke entered the breakfast nook. Spyke immediately stopped in his tracks upon seeing them.

"Oh, um, hi," he said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything…"

"Nah, Gambit replied and gestured to the pie pan that was sitting on the bench next to their plates. "Want some pecan pie?"

Rogue gave a mock-horrified gasp. "No! My pecan pie! Mine!"

"Thanks, but no," Spyke said as he headed over to the fridge. "I don't like pecans."

"You don't like pecans?" Rogue exclaimed, then grinned wickedly. "Good! All the more for me."

Gambit chuckled lightly at Rogue.

"So, there any beer in this place?" Spyke asked as he eyed off the contents of the fridge.

"Logan's got some Canadian. He used to keep it in here, but now he keeps it in a minifridge in his room," Gambit replied. "I can steal some for you, if you'd like."

Rogue almost choked on her bite of pecan pie.

"Uh, thanks for the offer, but I'll pass," Spyke said as he took out some juice from the fridge instead. "I'll just…" he paused thoughtfully, "ask someone else to pick me up some next time they go down the street."

"I'd offer, but I still have another year before I'm 21," Rogue said and looked at Gambit. "And I can't believe you would actually try to steal from Logan. Or would you? Just talking out your ass again, sugar?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Oh, I would absolutely do it," Gambit replied with a wink.

"He would catch you. He would sniff you out."

"I'm pretty sure I can figure out a way around that nose of his."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure he can smell what colour underwear you're wearing."

Gambit chuckled and Spyke frowned as he sat down with them at the bench.

"What would different colour underwear smell like?" Spyke asked.

"I don't know, I was just exaggerating for effect." Rogue waved her hand in dismissal.

"Yeah, I figured that. I'm just…"

"Wondering if it's possible?" Gambit asked.

"Yeah." Spyke nodded.

"Maybe different dyes have different smells."

"Maybe. Might get confusing if you're wearing multiple colours though."

"Probably. Although, you'd still be able to tell what colours were on your underwear."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, those are the colour smells that come with—"

"No!" Rogue cut in, giving Gambit an evil glare. "Don't you dare say it."

"—skid marks, and other related toilet smells," Gambit finished and grinned at Rogue. "What?"

"I'm trying to eat here," Rogue said, and pointed empathically to her pecan pie with her fork. "This is not the place for toilet humour."

"You're the one who brought up underwear."

Rogue glowered at him, and Spyke chuckled.

"Oh, hey," Spyke said quietly. "Umm, Remy, I just… I haven't apologised yet, and I… Yeah, I almost killed you the other day 'cause I wasn't paying attention. And I knew I had a control problem, but I was too busy showing off and… And well, there's no excuse. So, yeah, I'm sorry."

Gambit was silent for a moment, then held out his hand. "Apology accepted. I know exactly what it's like to have out-of-control powers, to put people in danger every time I lose control, and to almost be killed. So, yeah, I get it, and I'm more than happy to move on."

Spyke shook Gambit's hand. "Good, good. Well, not good, because all those things suck, but good that my apology is accepted."

Gambit chuckled. "I knew what you meant. So, if you don't mind my asking, what exactly is the problem you're having with your powers?"

Spyke sighed and took a sip of his juice. "Bones have started growing out of me without my say-so. I mean, you can see the body armour. It's like it's become a permanent part of me now. I can try to shed it, but it just grows back. And sometimes when I deliberately grow bones out of myself they go shooting out, like, uh, like you saw. And they'll also shoot out when I'm super stressed, but that doesn't happen very often. And when it does I can usually feel it coming and extract myself before any spikes can fly out."

"Sure, sure." Gambit nodded. "I usually charge and/or blow things up in response to intense emotion."

"Ah, you've been doing that emotion control course with Auntie O, huh?" Spyke asked.

"Yeah. Turns out cooking is the key hobby I need to teach me control." Gambit shrugged. "So I'm on 4 out of 7 dinners during the week and all special events."

"He was responsible for Christmas lunch," Rogue said. "It's a good thing I take so many training classes with Logan."

Gambit chuckled and grinned at her.

"So, uh, you two dating?" Spyke asked, looking between them.

"I wish," Rogue replied.

Magenta light flickered around Gambit's sleeve for a mere eye blink. "Nah, there's no way I can date anyone right now without killing them."

Spyke frowned. "Ah, yeah, I can see how blowing stuff up in response to intense emotion can make dating a bit too dangerous. Sorry, should've realised that myself. You two just come across like you are."

"Oh goody." Rogue winked at Gambit.

Gambit sighed and shook his head at her. "I don't know, chère, you've broken up with Lionel for two seconds and you're already making moves on another man."

Rogue blew raspberries at him. "Don't give me that. We've been outrageously flirting with each other since the day we met."

"Shh! Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

"I really think the truth makes a better story on this occasion," Rogue replied with a grin. "Jubilee would agree with me." She turned her grin on Spyke. "Jubilee ships us like crazy."

"Riiiight…" Spyke said slowly.

"Speaking of which," Rogue went on. "Looking forward to rehearsals tomorrow?"

Spyke shrugged. "Yes and no?"

"I guess things happened pretty quickly for you huh?" Rogue asked sympathetically.

"Well, they did, and they didn't. I've been coasting along aimlessly for awhile, so everything was bound to come to a head sooner or later," Spyke replied and grinned at her. "Just wasn't expecting to get back on screen any time soon."

"You spent a lot of time on screen?" Gambit asked.

"You should check out my YouTube channel. I have heaps of skateboarding videos," Spyke said smugly. "I'll say one thing for this place: I'll be able to get back to skateboarding here. I'm waaaaay out of practice."

Gambit nodded. "Morph suggested I should put a skateboarding park in the suburbia program. Since I don't skateboard, maybe you'd like to design a layout?"

"Oh sure, that would be great." Spyke's eyes lit up in anticipation.

* * *

"Whhhyyy do we even need to rehearse anyway?" Bobby demanded. "This is stupid."

"The only thing that's stupid is the fact that this whole project was your idea and yet you're refusing to put any effort into it," Morph retorted.

Rogue stifled a sigh. They were in the drama room, which had been set up with their proposed set: a pair of two-seater lounges in front of a pale patterned back drop. She, Jubilee, and Spyke were sitting down, watching as the two argued.

"I am not refusing to put any effort into it. I just don't see why we can't just start filming now," Bobby replied irritably. "Rehearsing just seems like a waste of time."

"We have a script, and if you bothered to learn your lines—"

"Why can't we just improv? It's not like we don't know what we're talking about."

Morph gave a long-suffering sigh. "We've been over this a million times already. We have a script because we want to make sure that everything that needs to be said gets said, and that it's worded correctly. We don't want to spread misinformation, especially when it concerns legalities."

"Yeah but—"

"Drake, I promise you, if you don't start playing ball I'm going to kick you off this project," Morph said fiercely.

"You can't do that!"

"I can and I will."

"No one asked you to even get involved!"

"That's not how I recall the conversation going—"

Rogue cleared her throat loudly as she stood. "Okay boys, that's quite enough. Clearly we're not going to get any more done today, so, thank you for your time, Morph. And Bobby," she turned a sour glare on her ex-boyfriend, "when we return for rehearsals tomorrow, I expect you to know your damn lines."

"Oh but—" Bobby began to object.

"We've been wasting valuable time all damn afternoon because you failed to live up to your side of the bargain," Rogue said angrily. "We all agreed to have a script and learn lines. We agreed. You included. You are letting the team down here, and you are damned lucky that I'm not Logan, because we all know what he does to people who fail the team out of _deliberate negligence_."

Bobby winced.

"In fact, no, I take that back," Rogue went on brightly. "You're damned lucky that I have a job to go to, because if I was having time off like you guys are from college, I would haul your ass into the Danger Room for 5am sessions every day for a week. Which, incidentally, is another reason why I'm pissed off with you right now. I don't have any extra time up my sleeve like you guys do. Stop. Wasting. My Time."

Bobby swallowed hard. He opened his mouth to stammer a reply, but Rogue turned on her heel and stormed out.

* * *

The next time the team got together to rehearse, Bobby actually knew his lines. After a few run-throughs he reluctantly admitted it was a good thing they were doing things this way and he ultimately ended up apologising. It was new territory for all of them, even those who had related prior experience, and the rehearsals helped to work out some of the issues.

One evening, after a week of rehearsals that were only just starting to feel encouraging, Morph burst into the rec room, phone outstretched. His eyes scanned the room and found amongst the startled faces those belonging to Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee, and Spyke.

"Good, you're all here!" he declared. "I have the theme music!"

Without waiting for a response, Morph tapped his phone, and the theme music in question came blaring out. Kitty hastily turned down the volume on the TV so they could hear it.

As soon as it finished, there was a burst of comments, mostly asking to hear it again. Morph played it a second time, and everyone had something to say at its conclusion.

"That was so cool!"

"Sounded a little repetitive to me."

"I love it!"

"I think I'm going to have that in my head for the rest of the day."

"Ali composed that?" Spyke said in amazement. "Seems a change from her usual style."

"Working in advertising will do that, I expect," Morph replied to Spyke with a grin.

"It sounds very 90s to me," said Kitty thoughtfully.

"I liked it," Bobby said.

"Me too," said Rogue.

"I could shoot fireworks to this," Jubilee said with a grin.

Kitty grinned back. "Well, as long as you guys like it. I'm not even in the show."

* * *

It was almost as if having the theme music finally made the whole project seem like it was real. The teams finished up the last of their rehearsals, and filming finally began. The plan was to film as many episodes as they could while most of them had time off so they could have a backlog of episodes when they were ready to start posting.

Time was getting away from them.

"Morph," Rogue said irritably as she entered the gym for her training session with Logan only to see Morph and Spyke there with a camera, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"We're filming your training session," Morph replied distractedly.

"Why? What's that got to do with the show?" She demanded.

"We're going to use the footage for the opening credits."

Rogue raised her eyebrows. "And you got Logan to agree to this?"

"Yep, but he's not to get on camera, and I'm the one you're going to be sparring with." Morph turned to her and gave a shrug. "Says you need more variety in your opponents anyway."

Rogue shook her head. "Okay then."

"Now, let's see," Morph pondered while tapping his chin. "Who shall I turn into? Mutant hater? Reaver? Non-discript bad guy?"

"How about sparring partner?" Rogue gestured around. "We're in a gym, after all, and I don't see a green screen."

Morph gave her a long look, then sighed dramatically. "Absolutely no fun at all, but a valid point nonetheless."

"Alright bub," Logan's voice said from behind them as he entered the gym. "You'd better be ready 'cause we're starting right now, even if you're not."

Morph saluted as he morphed into a generic gym junkie. "Sir, yes sir!"

* * *

The break came to an end, and then everyone was back at school. At that point they needed to start fitting in filming into their usual schedules, but at least they'd managed to get good amount of work done.

"So, when do you think the first episode will be up?" Cody asked Rogue as they chatted on the phone.

"The plan was for next week, but we're running behind schedule," she replied with a shrug as she continued down the hall to the staff rec room. "Morph's been pretty busy with the editing, so we haven't gotten much of an update from him yet."

"Ah alright," Cody said. "Well, make sure to tell me. I'm looking forward to seeing it."

"Yeah, me too."

They continued to talk until Rogue reached the rec room door, and then they hung up. Rogue entered to find that Jubilee, Bobby, Piotr, Kitty, Pyro, Spyke, and Gambit were already there.

"Just waiting on me, I see," she said as she headed over to the one spare seat by the lounges.

"Yep," Jubilee said gleefully.

"You've been looking forward to this way too much," Rogue said direly as she sat down. "Wasn't that game you played before Christmas enough?"

"That was a whole month ago!" Jubilee exclaimed. "Besides, we had friends over. This," she rubbed her hands together gleefully as she looked at the group, "is all in-house."

"Remind me again why I got talked into this?" Spyke said.

"Remy's catering," Bobby replied, with a gesture towards the table that was covered in homemade snack foods and drink.

"I was doing a lot of studying today, trying to learn how to get my emotions under control," Gambit replied with a wink. "The food is just a side-effect."

"A delicious side-effect," Rogue said gleefully.

"Okay!" Jubilee said, holding up her hands for attention. "We're playing Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise. If anyone wants to opt out of 'Kiss' now's the time to do so."

Kitty and Piotr both held up their hands. Jubilee gave them both a long look, then grinned. "Then I guess it's just us singlies who are kissing each other tonight. Woohoo!"

"Wait," Pyro piped up and looked towards Gambit. "Shouldn't you opt out too?"

"It's just kissing," Gambit replied. "Kissing doesn't require an emotional component."

"Speak for yourself," Kitty said.

"Hey Jubes," Rogue cut in, "what exactly is double dare? Two dares?"

"Hmm, well, it depends on who you play with. I think it's supposed to be that you do two dares, but," Jubilee replied, "one of my friends always played it where both the darer and the daree have to do the dare. We think that's more interesting, so that's the rule we usually use. And if there are no objections, that's the rule we'll use tonight."

No one objected, so Jubilee got the game started: "Ummm… Bobby! Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise?"

Bobby gave her a 'why me' look and said: "Uh, Dare."

"Show us the fifth picture on your phone!" Jubilee said.

Bobby blinked and pulled out his phone. "Okay, but it's really not very exciting. You know, if this is going to be the quality of dares, this isn't going to be much of a game."

"You say that now," Jubilee said as Bobby picked out the fifth picture on his phone, "but you'd be surprised at the number of people who have photos on their phone they have no business sharing with anyone." She paused for a moment. "Even themselves, really."

The fifth picture on his phone turned out to be a photo of one of his recent icey creations, which Bobby was more than happy to share. Then it was his turn.

After a few rounds of singing silly songs and dances, and social media status updates, Spyke chose the first Truth of the game.

"Hmm." Kitty considered for a moment. "If the Cure had been available when you lost control of your powers, would you have taken it?"

Spyke drew in his breath sharply as a frown formed on his face. He rocked back and forth for a moment. "Honestly? I don't know. I hope not, but I spent that much time being angry at my mutation and blaming it for my problems, I might have." He shrugged. "Mind you, depending on how Dr Ashton's research goes, I might still end up taking her diluted version. I'm not exactly comfortable with the knowledge that I could kill someone just from being a little too stressed."

"Dr Ashton's working on a diluted version of the Cure?" Kitty asked, blinking in surprise. "Since when?"

Spyke shrugged as Rogue and Gambit met eyes. "I don't know. It was something Auntie O mentioned over Christmas."

"Storm is okay with a Cure variant?" Bobby asked. "Did we just enter Bizarro World?"

Spyke grinned at him. "The idea is that it only decreases the amount of power you have at your disposal temporarily, as opposed to completely turning it off permanently. She thinks it would be a useful tool. Apparently Dr Ashton got her hands on some of the research from Worthington Pharmaceuticals."

"How?" Pyro demanded. "We destroyed everything."

"Really?" Kitty asked him scornfully. "You honestly think they were stupid enough not to have an offsite backup of their data? They only told people all the data was gone so they didn't have to admit the real reason they couldn't continue making it was because they didn't have Jimmy anymore."

"Which begs the question, is Jimmy being used in this research?" Pyro demanded.

Everyone looked at Spyke, who shrugged. "I don't know anything about this Jimmy guy."

Pyro opened his mouth to reply, then stopped, and grumbled instead as he settled back in his seat.

"Okay, so, I believe it's my turn," Spyke said and surveyed the group.

A few more rounds later, it was Jubilee's turn again. She addressed Pyro, who selected "Kiss."

"Really? Hmm…" Jubilee considered for a moment as she looked around, a wicked twinkle in her eye. "Rogue. I definitely think you should kiss Rogue."

Rogue threw her a dire look and huffed as she stood. Pyro cleared his throat uncomfortably as he walked over. He looked at her, then at Gambit.

"Try not to get jealous, Remy." Pyro said, and before anyone else could respond, he hauled Rogue to him with one hand around her head and the other around her waist, and kissed her firmly.

Rogue could only stand there dumbfounded as he kissed her with a lot more fervour than she expected.

"Woo!" Jubilee giggled.

Then Pyro let her go, and turned back to his seat without another look at her. Rogue slowly sat back down and stared at him. He avoided her eyes and looked directly at Piotr. "So, Pete: Truth, Dare, Doube Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise?"

"Hmm." Piotr considered Pyro for a moment. "Truth."

"Huh." Pyro thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Ronnie Lake or Betsy Braddock?"

Piotr blinked. "Who?"

"They're supermodels. If you had to pick between them who would you choose?"

"That's a really boring Truth," said Jubilee. "You can ask that any time."

"I can, and I have," Pyro replied and grinned at Jubilee. "But this time, Petey has to actually give me an answer."

Piotr gave Pyro a long look, then fished out his phone.

"Whatcha doing?" Pyro asked.

"I'm googling them," Piotr replied. "How else am I supposed to choose?"

"Yeah okay, I'll concede that."

Piotr took a few minutes to look up the two women. Finally he said: "Hmm… It's hard to say, but I think I will go with Betsy Braddock. She looks like she would be more interesting to paint."

Pyro opened his mouth, paused, shook his head, and said: "Why am I not surprised that's the criteria?"

Piotr merely looked at him for a moment, then turned his attention to Spyke. "Spyke: Truth, Dare…"

The game continued around for awhile, and then Kitty picked Gambit.

"Kiss," Gambit replied in response to the usual question.

"Hmm." Kitty considered for a moment. "Jubilee."

Gambit gave a shrug, and met Jubilee in the centre of the make-shift circle. Jubilee grinned up at him.

"So, would you like me to dip you backwards?" he asked her.

Her eyes lit up. "Sure!"

Gambit grinned. He wrapped his arms around her back, and, once her arms were around his neck, dipped her backwards in a big, showy kiss. Jubilee giggled delightedly as he set her back on her feet.

"Alright, um…" Gambit looked around the room. "Bobby: Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise?"

"Dare!"

"Excellent." Gambit grinned fiendishly at him. "Turn yourself into ice and pour that bottle of Fanta on yourself."

Bobby looked at the half-empty bottle of Fanta, then at Gambit. "Are you trying to turn me into a giant slurpee?"

"Yes."

"It's not going to work. My iceform isn't crushed."

"Humour me."

Bobby sighed. "Fine."

"Just make sure you freeze the Fanta so it doesn't get in the carpet," Gambit added. "I don't need to be cleaning that up later."

Bobby snapped his fingers and grinned at Gambit. "Rats. SO close.

He turned into his iceform, and then poured the rest of the Fanta over his head. He let some of it drip down before freezing it over.

"And now if I turn back, I'm going to be all sticky," Bobby said with a sigh. "Oh, wait, unless…"

He switch back to his usual self, but kept all the Fanta frozen. He chuckled to himself.

"Okay, my turn," he said as he picked frozen Fanta off his person and stuck it in a nearby cup. "Rogue: Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise?"

"Double Dare," Rogue said, and grinned at Jubilee. "We're using the rule where we both have to do the dare, right?"

"Right!" Jubilee said gleefully.

"Hmm…" Bobby said thoughtfully. "What can I come up with that will embarrass Rogue, but not me? Oh, did I say that out loud?" He grinned at Rogue.

"You're gonna have to come up with some really good then," Rogue drawled.

"I dare us to…" a delighted grin appeared on Bobby's face, "take off our shirts."

"Nope!" Kitty cut in before anyone else could say a thing. "Not happening Bobby. We are not taking this game there."

"Oh but—"

"No. Pick something else or forfeit."

Bobby pouted. "Fine."

"You sure told him." Rogue grinned at Kitty.

"These things need to be nipped in the bud," Kitty said as she continued to glower at Bobby.

"Okay, okay," Bobby said. "I dare us to… sniff each other's armpits."

"That's disgusting. What are you trying to do. Channel your inner Wolverine?" Rogue asked.

"Yes."

Rogue rolled her eyes and reluctantly walked over so they could sniff each other's armpits.

"Wow Rogue," Bobby said as he waved his hand in front of his face. "You need a shower. You stink."

Rogue poked her tongue out at him, "And you smell like orange slurpee." She glanced around at the group as she returned to her seat. "Spyke: Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise?"

"Kiss," Spyke replied.

"Jubilee." Rogue said.

"Yay, more kisses for me," Jubilee said as she stood up.

Spyke kissed her, careful not to poke her with any of his spikes and then returned to his seat for his turn. "Remy. Usual list."

Gambit chuckled. "Kiss."

"Alright. Rogue then."

"Yay!" Jubilee cheered.

Rogue and Gambit didn't look at all disappointed either. He swept her up in his arms and kissed her soundly. She kissed back eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah," Pyro said when it started to drag on. "You can stop any time now."

Rogue's shirt began to glow with magenta light.

"Uh oh," Jubilee said.

Gambit pulled back from the kiss, but continued to hold her in his arms. Rogue caught his eyes.

"So, sugar," she said. "Just how did you make that delicious Bruschetta? Because it's wonderful. I want…" she ran her fingers across his collarbone, "more."

"Tease." He touched his finger to her lips before she could reply, and started talking about how he made the Bruschetta that was amongst the finger foods he'd prepared for the night.

Before he finished reciting the recipe, the charge faded. They returned to their seats.

"Yay!" Jubilee said. "Soooo Rogue, how was your first kiss with Remy?" she batted her eyes at her friend.

Rogue blinked in surprise and opened her mouth to correct Jubilee. That hadn't been their first kiss. Then Rogue grinned and said instead: "You'll just have to pick me next and hope I pick Truth."

Jubilee gasped and clutched at her chest, then giggled and said: "Okay!" she turned her eyes to Gambit: "Pick me! Pick me!"

"Oh, just pick her," Kitty said. "If you don't, we'll all have to put up with her saying 'pick me' until she gets what she wants."

"Yeah, point taken," Gambit replied, and Jubilee laughed wickedly. "So, Jubilee: Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss or Promise?"

"Truth."

"Hmm. What is the strangest dream you ever had?" Gambit asked.

"That the entire school was made of cheese," Jubilee replied without skipping a beat. "And everyone was eating it. Only it turned out that Logan was lactose intolerant and was just letting loose all these monster farts. Wet monster farts. But the wet part was not poop like you'd expect, it was oatmeal. And everyone started eating the oatmeal with their cheese." Jubilee nodded as her friends giggled or 'eww'ed at her story. "And this is the story of why I haven't eaten oatmeal in five months."

Gambit chuckled. "Yeah, okay, that was definitely weird. Your turn."

Jubilee grinned and turned on Rogue. "Rogue: Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Torture, Kiss, or Promise. Plllllleeeeeease pick Truth. Pretty please? Pretty, pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Rogue laughed, "Truth."

"Yay! Tell me all about your first kiss with Remy," Jubilee said gleefully. "Every last detail."

Rogue took a moment to stop chuckling at Jubilee's enthusiasm, and then said: "Well, Remy and I were in the line for the Cure—"

"Wait, what?" Bobby cut in.

"Ooooh," Jubilee said gleefully. "You were a bad girl! No wonder I hadn't heard this story yet."

"It wasn't like that," Rogue shot Bobby an irritated look. "But we were fighting at the time, and I didn't see any need to give you ammunition. As I was saying. We were in the line for the Cure, and Remy was having some issues controlling his powers. As he did." She threw Gambit an apologetic look.

"It is what it is," he replied with a shrug.

"So I thought, well, maybe for the first time in its existence, my mutation can do something useful and actually help someone," Rogue went on. "And so, because it was crowded and I didn't want to take my gloves off, I kissed him."

"Aww." Jubilee pouted. "I don't think it counts if you absorbed him."

Rogue smiled faintly. "I never said anything about my attempt to absorb him being successful."

There was dead silence for a moment, then everyone spoke at once:

"What do you mean, you didn't absorb him?"

"You had control over your powers?"

"Was he wearing latex lips like in the Batman and Robin movie from 1997 which I definitely did not watch recently?"

Rogue laughed. Gambit just sat there with a faint smile on his lips.

"We're not entirely sure why the absorption didn't work," Rogue said. "We theorised that he might be immune or highly resistant to my powers. I might have drained some of his energy, but we're not really sure if that actually happened, or if it was just a placebo effect."

Jubilee gasped and started making inarticulate noises until she finally burst out with: "Remy is immune to your mutation? It's fate! Destiny! You're meant to be!"

"It's irrelevant," Rogue replied. "I don't have my mutation any more. Which is another reason why I never really bothered to mention it." She frowned. "Wait, no, I did tell someone… Oh, it was Kurt. Anyway, the kiss was great. Honestly, I think the only reason we stopped was because he zapped me." Rogue threw Gambit a teasing glare.

"Well, one of us had to do something before we got carried away." Gambit gave her a wink.

"Mmmhmmm." Rogue threw Gambit a knowing look, then turned back to Bobby. "Anyway, once I got the Cure there was no more kissing until after you and I broke up. I did _not_ cheat."

Bobby was quiet for a moment, then said: "You still got the Cure, even though you could touch someone."

"Of course I did. I hated my mutation."

Bobby nodded slowly.

"Alright," Rogue said, turning away from him with a flash of irritation. Let's see. Spyke: Truth, Dare…"


	10. vs The Zipper

**Chapter 10: vs The Zipper**

Rogue pulled. She pulled and tugged and growled with irritation, and pulled some more. Finally she slammed her free fist in the wall.

"You alright in there?" Gambit called out.

Rogue pulled back and glanced at the wall as if excepting to see him through everything. "Oh, hey Remy, didn't realise you were in. Oh, hey! Can you help me with something?"

"Sure," Gambit replied. "What's the problem?"

Rogue opened up the curtain that covered up the hole in the wall with her free hand. "Can you help me with this damn zipper? It's stuck."

She turned her back to the wall before he could respond. She was sure she made quite a sight, half inside her yellow dress. She heard him clear his throat, but didn't realise he had walked over until his hands were on her back.

"Ah, it's gotten caught on the fabric. Just a sec…" he said.

She felt him pull the zipper down a little way, and then pull it back up again after adjusting the dress.

"There, all done," he said. "Want me to get this little hook at the top?"

"If you don't mind, since you're already there."

"Not at all," Gambit replied as he did up the little hook. "I'm always happy to get you into your clothes. Or out of them. Possibly a little too happy, truth be told."

Rogue chuckled as she turned around. "Thanks sugar." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Anytime, chère," Gambit replied and he leaned against the wall as Rogue stepped away. "So, this is the big dinner with Aunt Carrie, huh?"

"Yep," Rogue replied with a sigh as she pulled on her thigh high stockings.

"You sure you don't want me to call at a pre-determined time to give you an excuse to leave?"

Rogue chuckled. "I'm sure. But I appreciate the offer."

Gambit nodded as Rogue put on a pair of flat, strappy shoes. "Not taking the bike, I take it?"

"I decided to go with 'outfit Aunt Carrie is unlikely to criticise'," Rogue replied. "Plus, I'm not sure of the dress code of where we're eating, but I'm sure it's somewhere nice, and my motorcycle leathers aren't exactly brand new any more."

"And she'll probably criticise the leather, huh?"

Rogue sat up and looked at Gambit with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, actually, maybe not. She rides a motorcycle herself."

Gambit blinked. "She does? I was picturing this, I don't know, Jane Austen, prim and proper, super strict aunt. I can't picture her on a motorcycle. I could picture her saying that motorcycles are too dangerous."

Rogue giggled. "She says that the biggest danger motorcyclists face are car drivers who have domestic blindness when it comes to motorcycles. She deliberately chose to learn how to ride a motorcycle in order to raise her own awareness."

"Oh, okay, I guess that makes sense," Gambit replied slowly.

"So, she probably be completely supportive of me having my motorcycle licence," Rogue went on cheerfully. "Though I don't know what she'd think of it being my primary means of transportation. In any case, I know she would definitely not be happy with me if I was riding a motorcycle in anything but leather."

Gambit nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can see that. What was it you said your aunt does again? Some kind of therapist?"

"Occupational therapist," Rogue said. "She works with a lot of disabled people, helps them to adapt their environment and stuff. There's a lot of crossover with physical therapists." She sighed as she grabbed her coat. "Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat, but I really have to go before I'm late and Aunt Carrie tells me off for my tardiness."

Gambit chuckled. "Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks."

* * *

Rogue parked at the restaurant and got out of the car. As she walked up the long ramp to the wide front doors, she had a flash of memory of her aunt criticising another restaurant at another time about being Accessible. She frowned to herself as she stepped through the automatic doors, and concluded that while she didn't remember Aunt Carrie doing that kind of thing regularly, it was certainly in line with her usual behaviour.

She wiped the frown off her face as she took in the foyer of the restaurant. It was a nice restaurant, not overly fancy, but a significant improvement over a fast food place. There were only two people in the foyer, the hostess, and Aunt Carrie.

Carrie was dressed in business casual with flat shoes, and her hair tied in her usual tight bun. Her hand bag was seated on a box on the seat next to her, and she stood as she saw her niece arrive.

"Marie," Carrie greeted her warmly, her arms held out. "It is so good to see you again."

Rogue made herself smile as she moved in to accept the hug. "It's good to see you too."

They hugged briefly, and as she pulled away, Carrie gave Rogue a good look over. "You look well."

"Thanks, so do you," Rogue replied.

"Thank you," Carrie said, and gestured to the hostess. "Let us get our table, shall we?"

"Yes."

Carrie took up her bag and her box, and they headed over to the counter. Shortly thereafter, they were seated at their table, which was by a window. Real conversation was set aside as they looked over the menu. Then their server came and took their orders, and the stalling was over.

"Let's see. As I'm sure you recall, I was in Nepal when you got kicked out of home," Carrie said. "Beautiful country. They're primarily Hindu over there, so they believe in karma. Which unfortunately means that if you're disabled they believe it's because you did something terrible in your past life. Families tend to hide disabled relatives away."

Rogue raised her eyebrows. "That seems rather harsh."

"They're ashamed of them, and people tend to prefer to hide their shame," Carrie replied gravely. "I hate it, but that's what the culture is. I do hope you're still interested in travelling. And I do highly recommend travelling somewhere outside of the western world."

"I do, and I want to," Rogue replied.

"Good."

Carrie went on to talk further about her year in Nepal. Rogue listened with genuine interest, but also with a little confusion. Her aunt strongly believed that starting a conversation by talking about yourself was both rude and arrogant, and Rogue had never known her to do so before. She couldn't imagine why her aunt would start now.

Then, after a brief scan of the restaurant towards the kitchen, Carrie picked up the box and placed it on the table where an extra space had been cleared. The box was mostly green with some words written in what Rogue could only assume was Nepali.

"This is for you," Carrie said as she slid the box over to her niece. "It is a strategy game that's popular in Nepal called Bagh-Chal. You have two players; one controls 4 tigers, and the other up to 20 goats. The tigers hunt the goats and the goats have to trap the tigers."

"I see," Rogue replied slowly, then lifted her head to smile at her aunt. "It sounds interesting. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Her aunt gestured to the box. "I left the original instructions inside, but I did include an English translation. Perhaps if we have time later we could play a game."

"That would be good," Rogue said. "You actually bought this in Nepal, then?"

"Yes, so I've been looking forward to giving this to you for awhile now." Carrie gave her a small smile, that quickly faded. "I didn't know what had happened to you until after I came back home, eight months after the fact. I can only assume that Priscilla was too ashamed to tell me."

"I'll bet," Rogue muttered.

"What was that, dear?"

"Nothing."

"Mmhmm." Carrie looked like she wanted to challenge that, but instead continued with her story: "I certainly couldn't believe she went and lost the paperwork for the youth shelter, let alone forget the name of the place. Oh, and I must take this moment to apologise."

Rogue blinked in surprise.

"When I couldn't locate the paperwork, I went into your room: partly to see if the paperwork might have ended up there, but mostly in the hope that I might find some clue as to your whereabouts," Carrie said. "So, I apologise for the invasion of your privacy."

"Oh, um, well," Rogue stammered. "It's okay. I mean, my old room was technically abandoned by that point, really." She couldn't believe her aunt just apologised to her, for anything.

"Technically abandoned, maybe, but I don't think thoroughly. Running away requires you to travel light, and I don't doubt you left behind things you would've preferred to have taken with you," Carrie replied softly. "As to that, if there's anything you would like returned to you, I would be happy to pick it up for you. Your room has been left alone, to my knowledge, other than my own search."

Rogue shook her head. "Honestly? I'm surprised to hear that. I would've thought my parents couldn't wait to throw everything out."

"Your father, maybe, but Priscilla kept it locked," Carrie replied. "And since he's been his usual scarce self, he hasn't been there to do it himself."

"Hmm. Well, I appreciate the offer, Aunt Carrie," Rogue said slowly. "I don't think I'll take you up on it. I can't really think of anything in particular that I want from there off the top if my head. Besides, I've lived without that stuff this long."

"Point taken. Now, while I was in there, I saw a map on the wall above your bed with a route marked in it," Carrie said. "So I decided to track down all the youth shelters I could find anywhere near that route and call them to see if they knew you. When you left, did you actually take that trip, or have I been following a red herring all these years?"

Rogue stared at Carrie in amazement. "You've been calling around for me?"

"Yes, of course."

"Seriously?"

Carrie frowned. "Yes. Is it really that difficult to believe that I might be worried for your wellbeing and go looking for you?"

"My own mother didn't care that much," Rogue pointed out, and then before her aunt could respond, added: "But, no, it wasn't a red herring, that map. I did take that trip. Well, partly. I…" she hesitated. "Let's just say about six months in, I met up with some other mutants who were, ah, out of town on business, and they brought me back to Xaviers."

Carrie studied her niece thoughtfully for a moment.

"Of course, I will not make you tell me things you're not comfortable discussing. I'm sure it was a very difficult time for you," she said finally. "But you're safe now, right? Fights with Reavers and escapees from prison not withstanding?"

Rogue smiled. "Yeah, I'm safe. As safe as any ex-mutant can be in this world."

"And you've been learning martial arts? Any particular speciality?"

"No, it's a mix. Different instructors have different training," Rogue replied with a shrug. "And my current — and longest — instructor knows multiple styles. Mind you, I've only been taking classes for a little over two years. I am not the expert the media is making me out to be."

Carrie gave her a wry smile. "That much I figured out for myself. No one becomes an expert in any discipline overnight, and you never took such classes back in Mississippi. Speaking of which, I believe you're working at an auto mechanic?"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah. When I ended up at Xavier's I got to try out a few different things, and I discovered I actually have a knack for mechanical stuff."

"And at risk of asking a question you're tired of answering, what about college?" Carrie asked tentatively.

"I haven't ruled it out completely, but right now I don't see why I should get massively in debt when I don't have to. I'm doing something I enjoy, and I'm getting paid for it, so… yeah."

Carrie smiled. "Makes perfect sense to me."

"And how's your work going?"

"Over all, it's been okay. Well, the work itself has been fine, as always. But we got a new CEO in the last year and she doesn't like me very much," Carrie replied dryly. "She is definitely trying to get rid of me."

Rogue raised her eyebrows at her aunt's almost amused tone. "Oh, really?"

"Yes. She's even had the audacity to say so to my face, so this is not idle speculation on my part. She has a replacement all lined up, but he's being trained by someone else because she can't trust me not to sabotage his training." Carrie rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I think she's going to succeed. I can't possibly continue to work for someone who is so obsessed with petty office politics that she could actually believe I would stoop to that level. It makes me wonder how many people she's trampled on to get where she is."

"So, you're going to leave?" Rogue asked.

"Sooner or later, yes, as much as I hate the idea of leaving our clients to her whims," Carrie said with a sigh. "That was one of the reasons why I attended this conference. I was hoping to get a fresh perspective on things and meet a few new people."

"Did you?"

"Yes. The whole conference went quite well. I'm most pleased that I attended," Aunt Carrie replied. "So, what exactly is it that you do at Xavier's these days? You obviously do more than just live there…"

The server returned with their food at that moment. The women thanked him and began eating.

"Well," Rogue said as she prepared her next mouthful. "Obviously, I still take, uh, self defence classes. Um, actually, we were severely understaffed until recently, so I stayed on after I graduated to provide additional adult supervision. In that capacity I mostly help out with chores. Everyone is put on chore rosters: general cleaning, and cooking meals. When I'm rostered on, I have a team of kids that I supervise and instruct in the task at hand."

"So the students cook their own meals then?"

"Yeah. Well, they'll cook something up for the whole school. Learning how to cook for one or a small group of people is another skill again," Rogue replied with a wry chuckle. "But, yeah. For a lot of these kids, myself included, they have no other home to go home to. So, teaching them basic life skills is right up there on the priority list."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it," Carrie replied and cocked her head. "I presume that you didn't have any problems on that count."

Rogue gave her aunt an knowing look. "None. Thank you. You'll probably also be surprised to hear that I even taught piano."

Carrie raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yeah, our original music teacher died, and…" Rogue hesitated briefly, "I was asked to introduce the skill to some specific students as part of their power control training. It was strictly a basics thing, and if any of them wanted to continue, we found them a proper teacher in town. Fortunately, we have a qualified music teacher now."

"You never got the chance to learn guitar then?"

"No, and I'm that busy nowaways, I don't have time for it at the moment." Rogue smiled. "My friends and I have started a web series. We're talking about, well, mutant stuff really. Our first topic is 'what to do when you find out you're a mutant'. First episode is going up on Friday."

Carrie chewed thoughtfully as she studied her niece. She swallowed and reached for her glass. "Now, that does sound interesting. Is your target audience strictly mutants or is it for general audiences?"

"General audiences. I guess our first topic is a little misleading on that end, but we thought it was the most important one to start with. But part of what we're covering is still applicable to baseline humans," Rogue said. "We talk about getting kicked out or running away from home and the same advice applies regardless of the reason why they've left."

"Where are you publishing the episodes?"

Rogue froze for a moment. "You want to watch?"

"Yes, of course."

"Oh. Okay. I'll write down the address for you."

Rogue wasn't sure what she thought of her aunt watching the show, only that it made her feel rather awkward. Still, she couldn't think of a good reason not to write down the address, so she did and quickly changed the subject.

They talked lightly as they ate. Each got a general idea of what the other had been doing the last three years. Rogue, to her own surprise, found she even felt comfortable enough to ask if her aunt was seeing anyone. She knew her aunt had dated, but as far as she knew there hadn't been anything serious since a cancelled engagement many years ago.

"I'm only casually dating at the moment," Carrie replied. "Not that I've been on a date in…" she thought for a moment, then shrugged. "It's not been on the priority list. What about you?"

"Same, really. My last boyfriend and I broke up about a month or so ago," Rogue replied with a shrug. "We agreed we were better off as friends."

"And are you?"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah. We still talk regularly. It's much easier now that there's not so much pressure on the relationship. Actually, it's weird. That's the exact same story with my other ex-boyfriend. Actually, all my ex-boyfriends, if you count Cody." Rogue looked thoughtful.

Carrie smiled. "You're back in contact with him, I take it?"

"Yeah, as of December, a few days before Christmas. Around the time of the mass escape, actually. He was on his way to New York when it happened." Rogue gave a wry smile. "He'd been having trouble trying to contact me by phone too, so he decided to go for a drive."

"Good, good," Carrie replied. "I had heard some rumours, but of course, you can never trust the media. Especially when it originates on the internet."

Rogue chuckled. "Ain't that the truth."

"But in all seriousness, are you okay?" Carrie asked. "After all those fights, I mean. As nice as it is to believe you've come out of all of them without a scratch, I know that's not a realistic expectation."

"I've been very lucky. I've gotten a few cuts and bruises, but nothing serious." Rogue grinned. "So there have been scratches; the realism quota has been fulfilled."

"Good. Your mama and I have been worried."

The grin faded from Rogue's face. "I think she gave up the right to be worried about me when she kicked me out."

Carrie sighed. "I wasn't even there and I already know that it was your father who kicked you out. Priscilla just said nothing and watched."

"You say that like you think it absolves her of guilt."

"Not at all. Priscilla would've felt guilty no matter what she did," Carrie replied gently. "In that moment she was forced to choose between two people that she loved dearly." She pushed her empty plate aside and leaned back in her chair. "Though given recent events she may decide she definitely made the wrong decision."

Rogue frowned. "What recent events? Me being on the news?"

Carrie looked at her blankly for a moment, then chuckled lightly. "Of course, I forgot you wouldn't know. It is…indirectly, because you were on the news. Let's see, sometime last year, hmm, it must have been after I called you to arrange tonight, else I'm certain I would've mentioned it. I was visiting Priscilla and a women by the name of Adella Hancock arrived all the way from San Fransisco with her son, Jason, wanting to see Owen."

Rogue raised her eyebrows. "A women and her son? Is this going where I think it's going?"

"Probably. She claimed she had an affair for several months with Owen about thirteen years ago."

"And the son is about 12, right?"

Carrie nodded. "He is."

"Does he look just like Owen too?"

Carrie waggled her hand from side to side. "Hard to say. But Adella did have photos of herself with Owen, and she recognised him from his appearance on TV. She's been trying to track him down for years, but he gave her a fake name."

"I see."

"Priscilla called Owen ask about it. He denied ever cheating on her, refused Adella's request for a paternity test, and twisted the whole conversation around so that Priscilla felt like she was the guilty party in whole mess." Carrie sighed. "That man is disturbingly good at gaslighting."

Rogue frowned. She'd never thought of her father that way before and yet…

"In any case, Adella is talking to her lawyer, so there may be a court-ordered paternity test in his future regardless of what he wants. I hope so. And I hope he doesn't find a way to wriggle out of it," Carrie said direly. "Priscilla needs to know one way or the other, so she's not left wondering."

"Somehow I doubt she'd be left wondering," Rogue replied. "Mama's never bought into any of your suspicions about him before."

Carrie gave Rogue a long look. "Neither of us can ever really know what goes on inside someone else's head. What we say and do doesn't always reflect what's going on in our head."

Rogue barked out a laugh. "Not know what goes on inside someone else's head? Do you know what happened when I touched Cody? I absorbed him. I downloaded a copy of his memories and personality and stuff, and got to listen to it all day every day until the day I got the Cure. Putting him in a coma was just a side-effect."

Rogue immediately regretted her outburst, a little surprised it even happened. She had no intention of discussing her mutation with anyone, let alone with Carrie, whom she didn't completely trust. As the silence lengthened, Rogue regretted it even more.

"Hmm, yes, I suppose I forgot to factor in telepaths into that statement," Carrie said finally. "That was thoughtless of me, if you'll forgive the pun. I'll phrase myself better the in the future."

"I'm not… I wasn't… It's not telepathy," Rogue stammered in reply. "Telepaths read minds and can communicate mentally and stuff, but they can ultimately shield and shut themselves off from other people's thoughts. My mutation was parasitic. Any mind I touched took up permanent residence inside me. There was no way for me to shut them out. I had to listen to the voices of everyone I ever absorbed day in day out." Rogue laughed bitterly. "And then I took the Cure and ended up diagnosed with tinnitus not long thereafter, because apparently I don't get to enjoy silence any more."

Carrie opened her mouth to respond, only for Rogue to cut her off.

"Okay, that's not entirely true. My tinnitus is manageable so I do know what silence sounds like. Just not lately because stress." Rogue sighed.

"Well, thank you for the clarification on both points," Carrie said as she reached for her drink. "I have tinnitus myself, actually. It's one of the other reasons why my CEO is definitely going to succeed in getting rid of me."

Rogue stared at her aunt for a moment, then cracked a smile.

"By the way, this show you're doing," Carrie went on, "will you also be discussing what mutation is?"

"Oh, um, yeah."

"Good. I'm woefully ignorant about the subject. I know everything I need to know about mutants, but all I 'know' about mutation comes from media, the internet, and the ignorant masses," Carrie said with a shake of her head. "I need to correct this, preferably sooner rather than later."

Rogue blinked in surprise, then narrowed her eyes. "You know everything you need to know about mutants?"

"Yes."

"Which is?"

Carrie met Rogue's suspicious gaze with a knowing look. "That mutants are human beings too. Their lives aren't worth any more or any less than anyone elses. And that, like all humans, they are capable of great good and great evil, even both at the same time."

Rogue believed her.

It surprised her a little. Earlier, she wouldn't have believed that there was anything Aunt Carrie could say that could possibly convince her that she hadn't only gotten back into contact with her because she took the Cure. Yet those words matched so perfectly with everything else her aunt had taught her growing up that it was like everything clicked into place at that moment.

"You know how when I was growing up, you always said to never start a conversation talking about yourself, because that was arrogant?" Rogue asked quietly.

"Yes?" Curiosity appeared on her aunt's face.

"I spent the whole time waiting for you to start a conversation talking about yourself, just so I could throw your own words in your face," Rogue said. "And you never did. Not once. Not until tonight. And not that… I liked hearing about your time in Nepal, but I was confused because it was so unlike you to start a conversation that way. So… why?"

Carrie smiled sadly. "Because I wanted to start a dialogue, not make you feel like you were being interrogated. And believe me, I haven't asked you even half the questions I have for you. I wanted to make sure that you knew that this was a two-way street."

Rogue nodded slowly. "I'm planning on changing my name."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I went back to using Marie after I took the Cure, but when I saw Owen on the TV…" Rogue shook her head. "I don't know. I guess I was so so infuriated by his attitude that I found the idea of continuing to call myself Marie D'Ancanto repulsive. So I'm going to be changing my name as soon as I decide on an appropriate lastname."

"Have you considered Ward?"

Rogue blinked in surprise. "You know, you are the third person to suggest their own lastname." Rogue cracked a wry smile. "I don't think I can ask you when the wedding is, like I did the other two."

Carrie chuckled. "I suggest it, not because it's my lastname, but because it's your mother's maiden name. As far as I'm concerned, it's just as much your family name as D'Ancanto is. Or was."

Rogue was silent for a moment. "Well, no, I hadn't considered it. Old family names were out mostly because I figured none of my blood family wanted anything to do with me unless I wasn't a mutant. I'm considering 'Rogue Marie' though."

"Ah, yes, I believe I heard 'Rogue' was your mutant name?" Carrie asked with a faint smile on her lips.

"It seemed to suit me," Rogue replied with a shrug. "Still seems to suit me, even without my mutation."

"That's because you've always been a rogue," Carrie's eyes twinkled delightedly, "from the moment you could walk."

* * *

Gambit just happened to be in the garage when Rogue returned. She got out of her car and eyed him doing make work in the workshop.

"Hey Remy," she said.

"Hey," he replied. "How'd dinner go?"

"Surprisingly well," Rogue said with a shake of her head. "I think we might actually be capable of getting along. Never thought I'd say those words."

Gambit grinned. "Well, good surprises are always better than the alternative."

"True, true. I've no complaints," Rogue said. "Plenty of surprises, but no complaints. Honestly, I think I'm going to need more time to process tonight."

"Gotcha." He cocked his head at her. "So, need any more help with that zipper?"

* * *

 **AN:** So this chapter was originally supposed to be the first half of one chapter (and the events of the next chapter the second half), but it turned out that Rogue and Carrie had a lot more to talk about than I realised ;) And then too, the events of next chapter demanded their own chapter as well. So, yeah, you guys got an extra chapter! Yay! ;)


	11. vs The Dragon

**Chapter 11: vs The Dragon**

Rogue gave Bobby's miserable form a long look as she sat down next to him, script in hand. Spyke, sitting across from him, was busy reading through his own script.

"Okay, I'll bite," she said as they waited for Jubilee to arrive. "What's the problem?"

"Our first episode hasn't got that many views," Bobby said. "I would've thought it would've taken off by now."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Okay, first of all, it's not like we did a huge amount of advertising for it. Most of what we've done is word-of-mouth. It's going to take awhile."

"I guess."

"And secondly, it's just the first episode. Again, time."

Bobby sighed.

"Oh, and then there's number three: Lots of people try to start shows online. There's no guarantee that anything we do will be a success."

"Don't bother," Spyke said, not even looking up from his script. "He won't listen. He has his heart set on being an internet super celebrity."

"I do not," Bobby replied grumpily as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"You don't what?" Jubilee asked as she entered the small classroom they had adopted as their practice room for when the drama room wasn't available.

"Bobby's being mopey because our first episode isn't the super awesome success he was expecting it to be," Rogue replied. "Whatever."

Jubilee frowned as she sat down. "We have no way of gauging that. Not unless someone writes to us to specifically tell us that our videos helped them."

Rogue grinned at her. "Exactly."

Bobby opened his mouth to reply, then stopped, and only sighed again. Spyke grinned wickedly at him.

"Come on," Spyke said as he stood up. "Let's practice this so we don't waste any of Morph's valuable time later."

Rogue and Bobby stood too, and with all their scripts in hand, the four began their rehearsal. This episode was about genetics, and served as a bridging episode between their "what to do when you find out you're a mutant' series and 'What are Mutant Abilities' series. The script had been written long before and as Rogue found herself rereading what they'd written, a lightbulb went off in her head.

"I'm sorry," Rogue interrupted about halfway through. "I need to make a phone call."

"That's okay," Spyke said as Rogue set her script aside and pulled out her phone. "We could use a break anyway."

As her friends settled themselves down for a break, Rogue called Dr Ashton.

"Hi Ash," she greeted her. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"You are, but I've just discovered I've been working on this for the last five hours without a break, so it's a good thing you called," Dr Ashton replied wryly. "What can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering, is it possible to do a paternity test using the DNA of a half-sibling instead of the father?" Rogue asked, and ignored the curious looks her friends shot her.

"Yes, but to be sure of accuracy, you want to have the DNA of one, preferably both of the mothers."

"Okay, great, that I could probably get. Would you be willing to do such a test, if the other parties choose to go ahead?"

"Certainly. Just let me know, and I'll get you some sample kits."

"Great, thank you." Rogue said, and as soon as they hung up, she rang up her aunt.

"I thought you only needed to make one phone call," Bobby said teasingly.

Rogue threw him a scathing look, and then answered her aunt politely when she picked up. "Hi Aunt Carrie. I hope I haven't called you at a bad time?"

"Not at all. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Ironically, Owen," Rogue replied blandly. "You know that paternity test you wanted done?"

"Yes?"

"Well, there's a way to get it done without his cooperation. You can use my DNA. We'll also need Mama's and… what's-her-name, Adella's DNA to ensure accuracy," Rogue said.

"Oh," Carrie said with interest. "I never even considered that. Well, this might save everyone a lot of headaches. Thank you, Rogue."

Rogue smiled. "I do have one condition though. I want the testing to be done at Xavier's. I just don't trust commercial DNA labs, especially where mutant DNA is involved."

There was a pause, and then: "Xavier's does DNA testing?"

"Oh, well, yeah. We do have a high mutant population here, and in our experience there's only three different types of mutant research facilities: the kind who genuinely want to help mutants, the kind who think mutation is a disease and want to cure it, and the kind who want to use mutants as weapons. And I know that last one sounds paranoid, but I swear it really happens."

"No, it doesn't sound paranoid at all. It sounds exactly like something humans would do," Carrie replied. "Alright, I shall talk to Priscilla and Adella and get back to you."

"Great. If you decide to go ahead, I'll get some sample kits to you."

"Thank you," she said. "Oh, while I have you, I saw your show. It was a good introductory episode."

"Oh, um, thanks."

"I do have one criticism, if I may?"

Rogue braced herself. "Sure."

"There weren't any subtitles."

Rogue blinked. That was not at all what she was expecting. "Oh, um, you're right. We completely forgot about subtitles. I'll get that fixed. Thank you for letting me know."

"You're welcome."

"Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat some more, but I have a rehearsal to get back to. Um, have a good rest of your day."

"I will, and you too."

They soon hung up and Rogue was left to see her friends watching her.

"You might have a half-sibling?" Jubilee asked.

Rogue shrugged. "Someone claimed to have had an affair with my father some time ago. She apparently had photos of their time together. I haven't seen them, but I guess they can't be too compromising. Anyway, she has a son that she claims is Owen's. He's refusing to participate in a paternity test so… Yeah, right now it's all kinda hanging over people's heads."

"Including yours?"

"A bit." Rogue shook her head. "It's not like I don't already know Owen's an asshole. For some reason it's like I need to know exactly how much of an asshole he is. I don't know."

"How old's the kid?" asked Bobby.

"Twelve."

"Took her time tracking him down." Bobby frowned.

"Apparently he gave her a fake name," Rogue said with a shrug. "So yeah, I guess, it's either a misunderstanding, or she's legit, which begs the question: how many other women has he slept with over the years?"

"And do you have any more half-siblings?" Jubilee added cheekily.

Rogue blanched. "Thanks for that Jubes. I was still processing the fact that I might have one half-sibling. I don't need to consider the idea that there might be more."

"You're welcome!"

* * *

Rogue sat on the bed and rubbed her feet with one hand while the other held the phone to her ear.

"So yeah, just waiting to get the samples back. Should be any day now," she said to Lionel. "But man, It was so weird writing down my old home address. I thought I was done with that, and yet there I was, mailing off a DNA sample kit to Mama."

Lionel chuckled. "Yeah, I bet it was pretty weird."

"I put down 'Rogue' in the return to sender space though. That was satisfying."

"I'll bet. How do you think she'll react?"

"I have no idea." Rogue was silent for a moment. "I guess she's probably feeling a lot of different things at the moment. She and Owen have been married for over 20 years, and now she's getting a DNA test done to see if he went and fathered a child with another woman. The last thing she probably wants to believe right now is that he cheated on her."

"Yeah. And if the kid does turn out to be his, the next question is: was there anyone else he cheated on her with?" Lionel said sympathetically. "And do you have any other half-siblings out there?"

"Ugh. I've already had this conversation with Jubilee. I don't need it with you too."

Lionel chuckled again. "Okay, changing the subject—"

"Thanks!"

"—The reason why I called is that I need a favour."

"Sure, what do you need?"

"My dad is throwing a party in a few weeks. A big, fancy thing for no other reason than to try to impress the bigwigs in the Hellfire Club."

"Oh, yeah, I seem to recall you mentioning he's itching to become a member," Rogue said, sounding amused as she starting giving her other foot a rub.

"Yeah, he's obsessed with the idea." Lionel gave a long suffering sigh. "Anyway, he's insisting I bring a date. He thinks that it will be embarrassing for him if I don't."

"Ah. And you'd like me to be that date?"

"If you don't mind. Oh, what am I saying? Of course you'll mind. You'll hate the party. I hate these parties. They're awful."

Rogue chuckled.

"But," Lionel went on, sounding resigned. "Dad… There are some times when defying Dad just isn't worth the effort, and this time he decided to play the golddigger card."

"The golddigger card?"

"Yep. He doesn't care who I bring, just bring someone. He's sure that there are plenty of golddggers out there who would be more than willing to date a disabled heir, so I shouldn't have any problems finding one."

"Ouch!" Rogue exclaimed. "He really said that?"

"Oh yeah, and it's not the first time either. He only uses it on what he considers 'special' occasions though, because Mom rakes him over the coals for it."

"I am with your mom on this one. Wow, what an asshole," Rogue said disgustedly. "Ooh, is he into anything illegal?"

"Uh…"

"Nevermind, don't answer that," Rogue said gleefully. "I'm just thinking, maybe you should tell him that your next girlfriend is more likely to be an undercover FBI or CIA agent trying to figure out if you're involved with the Reavers."

There was a moment's pause. Rogue wondered if she might have crossed a line, and then Lionel started laughing.

"Oh hell, it's funny because it's probably true," he said, and his snickers died down. "Damn, I get so much crap from people who think I'm with the Reavers just 'cause I'm in a wheelchair. And I now have a short list of people I can talk to about my interest in them, because everyone else just gets the wrong idea." He sighed. "Yep. My next girlfriend is definitely going to be an undercover agent."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, sugar," Rogue said. "I thought I was making a joke. I was clearly wrong about that."

"No, no, it's fine. I'm probably going to start repeating that to other people myself now. Hey, if you don't laugh, you cry, right?"

"Yeah," she said. "Oh, and um, I'd be happy to be your date at this party."

"Thanks. I owe you big time for that."

"You don't owe me anything at all."

* * *

The day after she spoke to Lionel, Rogue received the sample kit back from her mother. The day after that, the sample kits from the Hancocks arrived. Rogue took each down to Dr Ashton on their respective day of arrival. Her own DNA was already on file.

A few more days later, Rogue poked her head into Dr Ashton's office in the medlab.

"Hi Ash," she said. "You wanted to see me?"

Dr Ashton glanced up from her desk. "Mmm, yes. I have the results from the paternity test."

"Oh, really? Cool," Rogue said as she stepped further inside. "I thought it would take longer."

"I thought it might too, so we were both pleasantly surprised," Dr Ashton replied and picked up a file from her desk. "This is the hardcopy, but I'll send out an electronic copy to everyone. There's two parts to this. The first is that yes, Jason Hancock is your half-brother."

Rogue let out a long slow breath. "Okay." She wasn't really surprised, but she knew she would need time to fully process that. "And the other part?"

"He tested positive for the X-Factor."

* * *

Rogue and Gambit walked into one of the many McDonalds in San Fransisco. The first thing that jumped out af them was the rowdy team of boys dressed in baseball uniforms. Rogue's eyes scanned across them and she wondered which one was Jason.

Upon learning that Rogue was going to go to San Fransisco to visit her half-brother and his mother, several of her friends decided to come as well. Gambit was the only one who was coming to the actual meeting with her, the rest had decided to go sight seeing. Rogue and Gambit would catch up with them later, if there was time.

A woman got up from one of the nearby groups of parents and approached them. "Rogue?"

"That's me," Rogue replied. "You're Adella?"

"Yes. Thanks for meeting me," Adella replied, and glanced over at Gambit, who was wearing dark sunglasses.

"This is my friend, Remy," Rogue said.

"Bonjour, ma'am," Gambit replied with a nod to Adella, and then a look towards Rogue. "I'll go order."

Rogue nodded. "Thanks." She looked at Adella. "Did you want to talk here, or…?"

"Uh, yes," Adella gestured to one of the few tables not taken, and they sat down. "I wish there had been a better time for this, but…" she shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah, but when you're all busy, sometimes you just have to make do," Rogue replied and pulled out an envelope from her bag. "This is an information packet about Xaviers. Mind you, I'm not saying that Jason has to go there. This isn't a sales pitch. I just want to help you give Jason the help he may need, that I never got from my own parents."

Adella nodded. "And I appreciate that. But, truthfully, is staying home even going to be an option?"

"Sure it is. But a lot is going to depend on what exactly his mutation is, how it manifests itself, whether or not he can control it, whether or not it's obvious, and what your community's attitude is. Honestly, the two best things you can do right now is make sure Jason knows your feelings towards him aren't going to change," Rogue said, "and talk to your friends, family, people in your community about mutants in general. Just to see what their attitude is."

"Well, that makes sense, I suppose."

"It's a little difficult to make definite plans now."

"Yeah, it is. I don't suppose there's a way to predict what his mutation shall be?"

Rogue shrugged. "If there is, I don't know about it."

"Hmm." Adella frowned. "Will he… Is it possible he might get this death touch of yours?"

"Okay, first of all, it was not a death touch." Rogue replied irritably. "I never killed anyone. Ever."

"Ah, sorry."

"Thank you," Rogue said with an exasperated sigh. "Secondly, I know a few mutants who are related, and most of them don't have similar mutations. I know of a pair of brothers whose mutations don't work on each other, and I know of one girl who inherited the same mutation as her father, but those are, in my experience, the exceptions, not the rule." She shrugged. "Maybe some day someone will do a scientific study and get a different result."

"Alright. I guess that's something," Adella said slowly. "I don't suppose… Is there anything at all you can tell me about what to expect?"

Rogue nodded and started giving some general information. It was largely things that they were covering in their webseries, but altered for a parent. Rogue made a mental note to suggest an episode or a series for parents of mutants.

Gambit rejoined them with a couple of servings of what passed for food at McDonalds. He didn't say anything, just sat, ate, and listened. His phone went off as he was finishing off his fries. The text message in question had him raising his eyebrows. He got a few more texts as the conversation progressed.

The post-game party began breaking up, and Jason headed over to the table. Rogue looked up at her half-brother and, as Aunt Carrie had previously noted, found no particular resemblance to her father in him. Jason definitely took after his mother. He was slim, and his short brown hair had a slight curl to it.

"Oh, Jason, this is your half-sister, Rogue," Adella said. "And this is her friend, Remy."

Rogue held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Jason eyed her speculatively as he slowly reached out his hand to take hers. "Hey."

The sound of screeching tyres, screaming, and an animalistic bellow had all heads turn immediately to the windows. The automatic doors jerked back open as people who had just left came running back inside.

Outside, standing three storeys tall, half in the street and half in the McDonalds carpark, was a red dragon. A car had smashed into one of its back legs. Everyone in the area was running away from it for dear life as it breathed fire in a wide arc.

There was more screaming, and several patrons ran for the furtherest reaches of the restaurant. Jason and some of his fellow teammates ran for the windows and pressed their faces against it to see it better.

"Ah, so it decided to come here," Gambit said as he walked towards the windows.

"You know about this?" Rogue asked.

"Jason! Get back here!" Adella yelled, staying right where she was at her table.

"That's what all those text messages I've been getting were about," Gambit replied. "Our friends have been helping out with damage control. It's been flying around the whole city. Incidentally, bullets just bounce right off its hide."

"They've been shooting at it?" Rogue asked, then sighed. "What am I saying? Of course people have been shooting at it."

"Yeah, pretty silly if you ask me. A giant dragon corpse is going to be hell to get rid of. They should drive it out of the city first," Gambit went on musingly.

The dragon had stopped breathing fire. Its great talons flexed and dug into the road and concrete as its head looked around on its long neck.

Rogue shot a disgusted look at Gambit. "You realise that's probably a mutant, right?"

"Yep. But have they lost control, or are they terrorising the city on purpose? That's the real question."

"You're right, it is," Rogue said and started for the door, which opened at her approach.

"What are you doing?" Gambit asked, starting after her.

"I'm going to go ask," she replied and blithely walked out of the McDonalds towards the dragon.

"Rogue!" Gambit yelled after her, standing in the doorway. "That's a dragon! A real dragon! You're not Wolverine, you know!"

Rogue lifted up a fist. "And thank God for that."

Gambit groaned as Rogue continued walking towards the dragon. Her heart raced in her chest as she approached.

"Hi there!" Rogue called out when she thought she was close enough. She waved her hand. "Hi! Are you okay?"

The dragon's neck twisted towards Rogue to look right at her. Its head was almost as big as she was.

"I'm Rogue," she went on, and gestured towards the dragon, "and you are?"

The dragon moved in closer. Rogue could see their huge nostrils flare as they sniffed at her. Rogue was pretty sure the dragon could smell her fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Rogue said determinedly while her mind raced trying to figure out what technique she should use to help this mutant who may or may not have lost control. "I want to help you. Is there—"

The dragon grabbed Rogue with one of its front talons. Rogue yelped in surprise and wrapped her arms around her head as the dragon launched themselves into the air. Rogue tucked herself up into the dragon's grip as much as she could. She had no desire to end up with a broken neck because their next landing was too jarring.

There was no point in trying to talk to the dragon while they were flying. For one thing, the wind resistance meant it was unlikely the dragon would even hear her. For another thing, Rogue didn't really want to succeed to getting through to them mid flight, only for them to turn human again and for them to both plummet back down to the ground.

After what felt like an eternity, the dragon landed again in another part of San Fransisco. The talon holding Rogue hovered above the ground. Rogue cautious uncurled herself, preparing to recurl at a moment's notice. The grip was too tight for her to free herself.

Cars screeched to a stop. People ran away screaming in terror. Rogue felt the dragon's growl as it whipped its head around, and quickly recurled herself as the dragon belched out fire once more.

As in that moment, the thought that popped into Rogue's head was _"Ah hell, this is a King Kong movie and I'm the damsel in distress. How embarrassing."_

When she sensed the flame had stopped, Rogue cautiously peeked out. She frowned as she watched the dragon looking around. She had no time to question it, however, as the dragon's body shifted and Rogue tightened her curled body just in time. The dragon launched itself into the air once more.

After another eternity, the dragon landed again. Wherever they were, there didn't seem to be as much traffic or people because there wasn't any screaming or screeching of tyres, nor did the dragon feel the need to breathe fire again. Rogue peered out again and watched as the dragon's great neck swung from side to side, then stopped. Rogue frowned, and then realised that the head was paused in front of a street sign.

"Are you looking for something?" Rogue called out. "Are you lost?"

The dragon cocked its head around to look at Rogue.

"The world looks a lot different when you're flying over it, huh?" Rogue went on, hopeful that she was right. It would certainly explain all the taking off and landing. "It's a pity you can't use gps in your dragon form, huh?"

A small burst of flame blew out of the corner of the dragon's mouth.

Rogue then felt the dragon's form shift its weight again and immediately prepared herself for another takeoff.

* * *

Bobby slid around the city as fast as his ice slides could take him and put out fires. In some places, the people were already attending to the flames with fire extinguishers. In other places the fire was more than what they could handle.

Traffic was so bad there was simply no way for the fire department to get through.

Bobby stopped at one building where the flames were getting out of hand and began icing them down. He wished that Pyro and Kitty had come with them on their day trip, but Pyro was attending a writers workshop, and Kitty had pre-existing plans involving a team assignment for college which she definitely could not cancel.

For that matter, Storm would've been particularly useful right now too.

He continued on his way, following the trail of smoke.

At the next site, he found Jubilee, Spyke, and Piotr. Jubilee was standing on the footpath with several pedestrians, and her phone in her hand, while Spyke and Piotr were inside the burning building. Bobby quickly set about putting out the flames while Spyke and Piotr helped those who were trapped inside.

"Hey, how'd you guys get here so fast," Bobby asked Jubilee as he paused near her once the fires were out.

"We…walked?" Jubilee said slowly. "I don't think the dragon is flying straight."

"Oh, that would make sense."

Jubilee's phone went off then, and she checked the latest text message. "Oh crap."

"What?" Bobby asked as Spyke and Piotr escorted the previously trapped family out the front door.

"The dragon has Rogue."

"What!"

"Remy says she went to try talking to it, and it decided to kidnap her."

"Great." Bobby sighed and shook his head. "Well, I'd better get moving. These fires won't put out themselves." He smiled reassuringly at Jubilee. "I'm sure Rogue'll be fine. She's good with stuff like this."

"Yeah, I know. But this is a little different than from home."

Bobby gave a nod and then took off again.  
He wound his way through the city to the next fire, and the next. Along the way he saw other people coming out to help. Some were putting out flames, some were helping those trapped, some were aiding the injured, and amongst them were mutants.

One mutant was directing water from a fire hydrant to extinguish flames. A stretchy mutant was helping people down from a building who couldn't get to the actual fire escape. Other mutants used their powers to get people out of vehicles that had run into the dragon's legs or each other.

Days after the fact, someone would put together a compilation video of all the videos taken of mutants in the streets of San Fransisco that day, doing what they could to help those in trouble.

"Hey Remy," Bobby said as he put out fires around the McDonalds.

"Hey Bobby. How's it looking?" Gambit replied as he walked out with the Hancocks close behind.

"Well, it's not good, but… Mostly its damage control right now," Bobby replied and shook his head. "I have no idea where the dragon even is right now. I'm just putting out fires."

Gambit nodded.

"That's so cool," Jason said.

"Hey, thanks," Bobby replied.

"This is Rogue's brother, Jason," Gambit put in quickly.

"Oooh, so you're Jason," Bobby said. "Ice to meet you."

Jason laughed.

"Anyway, love to stay and chat," Bobby said. "But I have more fires to put out. Hopefully I'll actually catch up with Rogue. That'll be nice."

"Yeah," Gambit said, and a magenta sparkle flickered around his sleeve. "That would be good."

"Oh cool," Jason said, seeing the magenta light. "What can you do?"

"Nothing that's helpful right now," Gambit replied tersely.

"Did you want to come with?" Bobby asked him. He knew Gambit preferred to stay out of these things, but he also knew just sitting around waiting to get news was stressful too, and there wasn't exactly a Danger Room around for him to let off some steam.

"And do what?" Gambit asked.

"Be an extra set of eyes," Bobby replied seriously. "And keep me up to date with whatever's going on in our text chat. I'm so busy looking for fires, I have no idea what's going on."

Gambit grinned and held out his gloved hand to Bobby's ice one. "Now that I can do." He looked towards Adella as Bobby hauled him up onto the ice slide. "We'll contact you as soon as we know what happened to Rogue."

"That would be appreciated," Adella replied. "Thank you."

Gambit gave a nod, and Bobby swooped off again towards the next batch of smoke.

* * *

Warren flew as fast as his wings could take him towards the dragon. He couldn't see Rogue, but he knew where she was: tucked up in the only talons the dragon had closed up.

"Hello!" Warren called out as he got closer. "Hello there!"

The dragon kept flying on, and didn't seem to take notice of him. Warren wasn't sure if that was because the dragon didn't care or hadn't heard him. It was a little difficult to hear with all the wind rushing past.

"Hi there!" Warren yelled again when he got closer.

One big lizard-like eye looked towards him. Warren swallowed hard.

"Hi, I'm…" he hesitated. Perhaps introducing himself as Angel to someone who looked like a dragon wasn't the best idea. "I'm Warren. Warren Worthington. You seem—"

The dragon jerked their head towards him, and he immediately had to dodge out of the way of a burst of fire breath.

"Uh…" Warren took one look at the dragon and then began to fly with all speed away from them.

The dragon flew after him.

Warren felt another burst of heat behind him and dodged hard left just in time.

His heart raced as he flew onward in a zigzag pattern. Several times he felt the heat behind him as the dragon blew more fire at him.

In his panic he started to fly towards home, then jerked himself out of that ridiculous idea as soon as he realised what he was doing. Instead he turned towards where he'd last left his friends. If anyone could stand up to a fire-breathing dragon, it was Bobby "Iceman" Drake.

As luck would have it, he didn't need to go far before he spotted Bobby, with Gambit holding on behind him as they slid through the city.

"Help me!" Warren shouted as he darted by with the dragon close on his tail.

Another burst of flame emerged from the dragon's mouth. Warren dashed behind a building as the fire was met with ice. He continued flying around the building, and when they came back into view he saw Bobby attempting to ice over the dragon.

The dragon saw him and surged forth.

Warren squeaked (he was relieved that no one but him heard that outburst) and took off flying again. When he glanced behind him, he could see Bobby keeping up with them, and continuing his attempts to ice over the dragon.

It occurred to Warren that it might be easier for Bobby if the dragon would stay in the one spot. Warren winced and darted back.

Warren flew circles around the dragon, who seemed determined to burn him to a crisp. Once he even felt the dragon snap at his heels and he was pretty sure he peed himself a little, but he kept at it. He trusted Bobby wouldn't let him burn.

* * *

Bobby was pleased that he'd learnt how to make ice move, rather than simply how to freeze stuff, because it was the only thing enabling him to continuously cover the dragon over and over. The dragon was strong and hot, and continuously broke Bobby's efforts to make an ice prison.

"Remy, do something," Bobby said as he put out another burst of fire breath aimed at Warren.

"I'm open to suggestions," Gambit replied.

"I don't have anything. Just do something, all right? I can't keep this up forever," Bobby retorted irritably. "And neither can Warren."

Bobby felt Gambit's heavy sigh on the back of his neck and ignored it.

"Well, hey there dragon," Gambit called out.

"What are you doing?" Bobby hissed.

"Taking a cue from Rogue," Gambit hissed back, then continued on loudly, hoping to get the dragon's attention. "What lovely big teeth you have."

Bobby frowned, but kept his focus on icing the dragon over.

"Big white sparkly teeth," Gambit went on. "I know you probably hear this all the time from your food, but you must bleach or something 'cause that's one dazzling smile you got there."

Bobby was sure he'd heard that line somewhere before. But he wasn't about to question it because the dragon had momentarily lost interest in Warren and was looking right at him. The dragon breathed fire upon them and Bobby threw up an ice wall to shield them.

"And do I detect a hint of minty freshness?" Gambit went on once the fire subsided and the ice wall melted. "That's quite an achievement. There aren't many dragons around who can breathe fire without smelling like brimstone."

Bobby slid them to the side as the dragon snapped at them. He felt Gambit leave his side and jerked his head around to check he hadn't fallen, only to see that Gambit had jumped onto the dragon's closed talon. Bobby didn't have time to dwell on this, however. He ducked down underneath the dragon and sprayed them with an ice casing.

"Shrek!" Bobby exclaimed suddenly as he slid out the other side. "He was paraphrasing Shrek!"

If the dragon turned out to be a woman, Bobby was so calling Gambit "Donkey" later.

* * *

Rogue looked up between the talons holding her to see Gambit above her with his legs wrapped around the dragon's wrist.

"Hey sugar," she said. "If you're here to rescue me, I'm torn between feeling embarrassed and relieved."

Gambit grinned at her as he reached down for the nearest talon. "I'm actually hoping you'll rescue me. I have a charge in my pants and it's only a matter of time before it spreads."

"Oh, well, we can't have that, now can we?"

Gambit wrapped his arms around the talon as best he could, and tried to pull it out. Rogue doubted that he'd be able to get it all the way off, but if he was able to loosen it…

The dragon's head swivelled around to look at them.

"And what lovely eyes you have," Gambit said quickly.

Rogue smirked up at him.

"Looking into your eyes is like looking into an eternal sunset," Gambit went on, who was still hanging upside down with his shirt bunched around his armpits. "Or from this angle, a sunrise."

The dragon cocked their head at him. After a moment, the dragon landed with a jolt that almost caused Gambit to loose his grip, and carefully opened up their talons to release Rogue. Rogue stood for all of two seconds and then collapsed with a giggle. Her head was spinning and her stomach felt like she was tumble drying her lunch.

Gambit dropped down and landed on his feet like a cat. The dragon moved in closer and sniffed him, and licked him from ankle to head as the charge spread to his outer clothing. He grabbed his sunglasses before they could be flicked off and immediately started ratting off a recipe.

The dragon regarded Gambit with what looked like curiousity to Rogue, and then jerked their head angrily towards Bobby, who was still trying to cage them in ice. The dragon blew fire at him.

Rogue threw up.

The dragon jerked their head back towards Rogue. They sniffed at her and then at the vomit, and shuddered.

"Yep, yep," Rogue said, then threw up again. "Ah hell." She spat. "I'm sure you're a lovely person, but I never want to go flying with you again." She spat some more. "I mean, I like flying, and rollercoasters, but…"

She threw up a little more. Then as she spat and wiped the tears from her eyes, she noticed that the dragon wasn't quite as big as they had been. Between spitting and taking big, heavy breaths, she turned her head to look at the dragon, who was rapidly shrinking and morphing back into a human.

The charge vanished from Gambit's clothing. Rogue finally stopped throwing up. And in the middle of the street sat a young woman with black hair, dressed in business casual. She looked at Rogue.

"Sorry," she said, and then glanced at Gambit. An embarrassed look appeared in her face as she took in the dragon saliva. "Um, really sorry."

He grinned tiredly at her. "S'fine."

Bobby slid down to them and dissolved his ice slide. He nodded and then patted Gambit's shoulder. "That'll do, Donkey. That'll do."


	12. vs Reavers round 3

**Chapter 12: vs Reaver round 3**

Rogue was in the middle of getting dressed when there was a knock on the wall.

"Hey, Roguey," Gambit said. "You in?"

Rogue glanced at her reflection in the full-length mirror. She was wearing an ankle-length green dress with a split up the side and a low-cut neckline. She smiled to herself and opened up the curtain.

"Hey sugar," she said.

Her smile widened as she watched Gambit look her up and down.

"Well, don't you look sexy," he said. "And now I've completely forgotten what I was going to say."

Rogue chuckled and pulled up her chair by the hole in the wall. "It's okay, you can admit it. You just wanted to see me getting dressed."

She began putting on her thigh high stockings.

"I already missed the best part," Gambit replied, his eyes on her legs. "But this part's pretty good too."

Rogue winked at him. Then, halfway through putting on her second thigh-high, she said: "Ooh, we're going to do a Q&A."

"We are?": Gambit asked, momentary confusion crossing his face. "Oh, the webshow?"

"Yeah. It's part annoyance at how the media is handling things, and part, our inboxes are getting bombed with mail from people wanting to know what it was like fighting a dragon." Rogue rolled her eyes and grabbed her high heeled shoes. "We figure the best way for us to get the story out is for us to interview ourselves."

Gambit laughed. "There's some logic to that."

Rogue sat on the chair and slipped on her 4 inch stiletto high heeled shoes. "Also, I'm really annoyed at the people who think it was staged just because we were in San Fransisco instead of New York. Like people can't just have a day off once in a while. Ugh."

"Some people don't believe in coincidences."

"Those people infuriate me." She shook her head. "Anyway, I imagine that the Q&A will be more about Bobby than anyone else. He did the most. We're going to ask Warren if he wants to join us though. Oh, did you want to join us?"

"Pass."

Rogue grinned at him as she grabbed her dress jacket off the bed. "I thought you might say that. It's just as well. It's bad enough I was reduced to 'damsel in distress' without rubbing it in. Personally, I'm thinking of passing on the Q&A."

"Aww, you can't do that," Gambit replied with a wink. "How else will the world know that it was your vomit that snapped Vange out of it?"

Rogue shot Gambit a dire look. They found out after that Evangeline "Vange" Whedon normally could choose to turn into a dragon or take on dragon-like features. However, if someone else's blood touched her directly, all control went out the window. The smell of vomit had apparently helped to mask the smell of blood.

"It didn't snap her out of it," Rogue said irritably. "You know perfectly well she told us that the moments when we spoke to her and weren't fighting her were what was getting through to her. The vomit thing was more the straw that broke the camel's back. In other words, just talking to her like a fellow human being for a few more minutes would've done the same thing."

"But it's so much more fun to say you defeated a dragon with vomit." Gambit grinned winningly at her.

"It's disgusting," Rogue said as she put her phone and keys into her jacket pockets, "and I never want to ride a dragon again."

* * *

Rogue stepped through the front door of the Galanos mansion, and immediately felt out of place amongst the guests. They were already starting to mingle, dressed in expensive designer clothing and just generally looking like they had too much money on their hands. Rogue threaded through the crowd, and tried to ignore the supercilious glances she got as she looked for Lionel.

"Hey, Rogue," Lionel said as she approached. "Glad you could make it. No, really, I'm really, really glad you could make it."

Rogue grinned at him. "No problem."

"You look gorgeous, by the way."

"Aww thanks. You look dashingly handsome yourself."

The party guests continued to arrive. Several of the ones in their age group approached to say hi. Lionel's parents both dropped by.

"Lovely to see you again, Rogue," Mrs Galanos said. "We'll talk more later."

Mr Galanos, on the other hand, looked Rogue up and down before looking at his son with annoyance. "You couldn't have bought her a new dress? Are you trying to make me look bad?"

"No," Rogue cut in before Lionel could say anything. "He doesn't have to. You do that all by yourself."

Mr Galanos drew himself up tall. "Now you see here, young lady—"

"You're not really going to make a scene are you?" Rogue drawled. "Because that'll just be proving my point."

He plastered a smile on his face. "This isn't over." He gave his son a hard look and stalked off.

"I'm sorry," Rogue said to Lionel. "I hope I didn't get you into any trouble."

Lionel shook his head. "Oh, he'll probably just tell me you're not to come to any more of his parties. I know you're crying inside."

Rogue giggled.

Warren and his girlfriend, Candy, soon joined them.

"How's Vange doing? Do you know?" Rogue asked after they exchanged pleasantries.

Vange had turned herself into police after she'd turned back. Rogue hadn't heard anything from her since. All she knew was what was shared on the news, like Mr Worthington arranging her lawyer.

"Ah, not much," Warren replied as he shifted his feet. "Dad's keeping a pretty tight lid on things."

"I don't get it, though," Lionel said. "Why is your Dad involved at all? Are the rumours true about Worthington Pharmaceuticals still having some doses of the Cure?"

"I'm pretty sure that Dad's only involving himself because I involved myself," Warren said with a shake of his head. "I sincerely doubt that the Cure is in any way involved. Media's just making guesses."

Lionel nodded. "Yeah, they do that."

"But, yeah, I haven't spoken to Vange at all," Warren went on to Rogue. "She hasn't been getting any non-official visitors."

Conversation was momentarily silenced upon the announcement that dinner was ready. To Rogue's chagrin, it turned out to be a formal affair with a specific seating arrangement. Her only solace was that she was seated between Lionel and Warren, the only two people at the party she could call friends.

"I apologise in advance if I screw this up," Rogue murmured to Lionel as she took in the number of forks and knives sitting in front of her. "My Aunt Carrie drilled some table etiquette into me, but nothing on this scale."

"That's okay, I don't usually dine like this either," Lionel replied quietly. "Dad really went all out with this madness when he found out Sebastian Shaw finally accepted one of his invitations."

Rogue stifled a giggle and glanced over at the Black King of the Hellfire Club, who was seated next to Mrs Galanos and a woman named Tessa. Throughout the evening, Rogue saw them continue to engage in conversation. Mr Galanos often interjected, but his part in the conversation never lasted long.

"You know, if this family ever does get an invite to the Hellfire Club," Lionel said musingly to Rogue as the meal progressed, "it'll be because Mom impressed them. She's the real brains of the family."

Rogue grinned at him, and Warren, who'd caught the comment, chuckled.

"You know, on individual merits, your mom might be the only one of the two who's even qualified," Warren said quietly, with a grin at Lionel. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that she earns way more than he does."

"Like I said, she's the real brains of the family," Lionel replied, grinning back at him. "Dad's just a professional yesman."

The three snickered quietly.

Dinner went largely without incident, and then they retired to the next room for drinks and further chit-chat. There were a few others Rogue's age around, and they were just as inclined to mingle as they were to find a corner somewhere that they could do things on their phones discreetly.

They'd only been chatting for about ten minutes when the doors overlooking the gardens burst open. The sound of gunfire sent everyone screaming to the ground.

"My oh my isn't this a lovely party you seem to be having," called out a voice, and Rogue looked up to see a gang of five Reavers smirking at them. "My friends are going to bring around some bags, I suggest you fill them with jewellery, credit cards, watches, phones, cash if any of you rich types bother lowering yourselves to carry cash on you, and any other valuables."

As he, the tanktaur, spoke, his four friends began moving around the room in pairs. One pair (one with a cyborg eye and a spinning bladed hand, and the other with cyborg legs) went among the guest to gather their valuables (occasionally by force), while the other pair (one with a cyborg leg and the other with a straight bladed arm) helped themselves to the valuables in the room.

The tanktaur Reaver's eyes then turned to the tallest guest in the room at that moment: Lionel. Lionel could've gotten out of his chair, but he hadn't, and now that the shooting had stopped he was sitting instead of hunched over as low as he could go. The tanktaur smiled.

"Well now, who's this?" the Reaver asked as he zoomed over to Lionel and looked over his wheelchair. "Interested in some real hardware?"

Lionel raised his eyebrows. "Are you trying to recruit me?"

"Why not? Everyone knows you rich kids get bored having everything handed to you," the Reaver replied. "Besides, that chair is just holding you back, and you know it. What you need is something like this," the Reaver affectionately slapped his tanklike lower half.

"I have to admit the hardware is pretty attractive," Lionel replied. "But if I'm going to get something like that, I'd prefer to do so without the theft, murder, and terrorism." Lionel glowered at the Reaver. "You sure have a lot of nerve coming in here, threatening and stealing from my friends and family, and then asking me to join you."

The tanktaur grinned. "Nerve has never been something I've been short of, kid." He pulled a card out of his pocket. "If you change your mind."

As the Reaver pressed the card on Lionel, his eyes happened to land on Rogue's face. He frowned.

"Since you're here though," Lionel said quickly, "maybe you can shed some light on a theory I have about you."

"Mmm?" The Reaver responded while continuing to study Rogue.

"Yeah, see, you Reavers seem to have exactly two different types of targets for who you rob. You either go after places like banks that will reap a profit, but you also go after an awful lot of smaller targets that require, shall we say, forceful renovations."

The Reaver jerked his head up to grin slyly at Lionel. "Forceful renovations, huh? Just what is this theory of yours?"

"That you like to target places that aren't accessible," Lionel said. "You deliberately pick places with narrow doorways and aisles, and lips at the doorways. You go out of your way to bring in portable lifts just so you can rob places above ground level that are only accessible via a staircase and don't have an elevator or a ramp. Or they do have a ramp, but it's out with the loading bay. You've even gone after a few places that are accessible in the sense that people like me can get in, but don't have accessible restrooms."

The Reaver grinned. "You're not the only one to catch on. Of course, some people fail to get the message. The number of places we've had to 'forcibly renovate' multiple times because they decided to restore the same old narrow doorways and stairs is ridiculous. Some people never learn."

He hefted his gun. "So, what do you say now? Interested in joining?" He pointed his gun at Rogue, who stiffened. "Or are you too busy being in bed with the enemy?"

 _"Dodge left, now!"_

Rogue dodged hard left before she even realised what she was doing. The gun fired and the bullet grazed her ear.

Shrieks came from the other guests as Rogue scooted behind the lounge. The tanktaur called out to his friends. She mentally cursed her dress. Even with the split up one side, it was not a suitable garment for fighting in. Not that she stood much of a chance against five Reavers, all of them armed.

 _"Keep going,"_ said the unfamiliar female voice inside her head. _"Prepare to tackle legs… now!"_

Right on cue, the Reaver with the single cyborg leg stepped in front of her. She lunged towards him, wrapped her arms around his legs, and bowled him over. He just managed to catch himself.

 _"Dodge right!"_

Rogue dodged to the right, and the Reaver with the straight bladed arm barely missed her. She scooted away as best she could towards the door to the outside.

 _"No, the other way."_ And when Rogue's automatic thought was that they'll kill her if she didn't bail, the voice replied: _"They'll kill you if you do."_

As if to confirm her words, the Reaver with the dual cyborg legs stepped in front of the door, and a pair of blades slid out of the toe section of his prosthetics. Rogue pulled herself backwards, wishing she could stand, and knowing that if she did, she'd just make herself an easier target.

 _"Roll left!"_

As Rogue rolled underneath the table, she felt something scrape across her shoe and the edge of her skirt catch on something. She cursed, but pulled away harder instead of wasting time trying to unhook herself. There was strong resistance as she hauled herself to the other side of the table. The resistance abruptly gave way, and Rogue dared a glance backward to see that the Reaver with the straight bladed arm had sliced through her dress.

 _"Back under the table!"_

Rogue mentally objected even as she obeyed. The tanktaur pulled up right where she had been. In the same moment she came face to face with the straight bladed Reaver. He grinned wickedly and thrust his bladed arm at her.

 _"Left! Right! Right! Kick!"_

Rogue kicked the Reaver in his abdomen. The motion caused her body to slide forward a little, flattening her out as the Reaver lurched forward.

 _"Duck right!"_

Rogue ducked to the right just as the Reaver made another thrust towards her. But his arm was too high. She slammed her arm into his, and his blade went into the edge of the tank treads.

She scooted out the other side of the table

 _"Keep going."_

She didn't stop to look around, she just kept going straight ahead. As she moved, she got to her feet and scrambled between several guests who parted at her approach.

On the other side of the crowd was the Reaver with the spinning blade and a cyborg eye. Rogue readied herself for the inevitable collision…

 _"Right!"_

Rogue threw herself to the right as gunfire opened up. There was screaming, but it didn't really register.

 _"Kick high!"_

She whirled on one heel and kicked her other leg high. Her high-heeled shoe came flying off. Moments later, the ball of her foot slammed into the Reaver with the single prosthetic leg. She barely notice him fire his gun, but she did feel the heel of her shoe break from under her.

Thrown off-balance, Rogue fell into the Reaver. As she grabbed at him, momentum twisted them around. For a moment they looked like ballroom dancers - Rogue with one leg over his shoulder and the other dragging on the floor - then they both tumbled down.

As Rogue gasped for breath, she heard the voice instruct her further, and her body acted without her thinking about it. She elbowed and jabbed the Reaver in the face and twisted her body out from under him. Her other shoe came off in the process.

 _"Run!"_

She ran. The tanktaur appeared ahead of her. Apparently the Reaver with the straight bladed arm had been able to free himself.

 _"Roll forward!"_

She lifted her hands, leaned further forward and curled into a ball. She made a single forward roll, leapt to her feet, and sank an almighty uppercut right into the tanktaur's head. She elbowed him with her left, and relieved him of his gun with her right.

As the gun clattered to the floor, she looked around. Two of the Reavers were lying on the floor, bleeding from bullet wounds. The other two were slumped into each other right where she had rolled a few moments earlier. One of them had the others long straight blade sticking out of his back.

 _"Well done, Rogue. Now, it might be best if you don't mention me,"_ said the voice. _"You may tell your trainer, but I'd rather you didn't tell the media or the police about the telepath who helped you."_

Rogue turned her head back to the tanktaur to see party guests further disabling him.

"Rogue?" Lionel called out, but his voice seemed distant. "Rogue are you okay?"

She lifted her hands and looked at them, vaguely aware of pains in her arms, legs, and back. She saw blood on her clothes and skin. Her vision started to go blurry as she swayed on her feet.

 _"Hmm, yes, sorry about the injuries, but they were necessary. No one with any fighting experience would ever believe you could have survived this without a scratch. Don't worry. There's nothing too serious."_

Everything went black.

* * *

When Rogue woke up, she was in a private hospital room. She'd never been in a private hospital room before, but she was guessing from the hospital bed she was in, the medical equipment that was hooked up to her, and the fact that there was only one bed in the entire room, that that was where she was.

Her left foot was in traction. There were several dressings on her arms and legs, but she couldn't be sure of how many. She was feeling too groggy to figure it out. All she really knew for certain that she was amazed to be alive after having five Reavers try to kill her.

She caught a glimpse of the clock and discovered it was early morning. With nothing to occupy her, and still feeling too groggy regardless, Rogue soon slipped back to sleep.

She woke again with the arrival of breakfast. Shortly thereafter she spoke to a couple of nurses and one of the doctors who attended her. Then a police officer arrived.

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked her.

"Well, to be honest, most of it is a blur," Rogue replied. "I'd been invited by my friend Lionel. Uh. Lionel Galanos. Technically he's my ex but we decided we made better friends. Anyway, that tanktaur Reaver recognised me, and tried to shoot me." She shook her head then. The telepath had asked her not to mention her, and Rogue was reluctant to betray the person who'd saved her life. "I remember a lot of crawling and running around, and sheer terror. And quite frankly, I'm surprised I'm still alive."

The officer smiled. "Yeah, I saw the video. You're not the only one who's surprised you got out of that in one piece."

"Video?" Rogue repeated.

"Several, in fact. Several that even got uploaded to the internet, uncensored."

Rogue groaned.

"You're one very lucky woman," the officer said, then continued with her questions.

Finally visiting hours opened up, and visitors started arriving in droves.

"Rogue! You're okay!" Kitty exclaimed as she hurried over to give her an awkward half-hug. "We've been so worried."

Rogue smiled ruefully. "I was very, very, very, extremely lucky."

"Yeah, we know," Kitty replied. "There have been several videos popping up online."

"So I've heard," Rogue said with a sigh. "Do I even want to know?"

"I haven't bothered to read the comments, if that's what you're asking."

"I have," Jubilee piped up. "It's the usual kind of stuff: people who think you're awesome, people who know you were lucky, assholes who wish the Reavers had succeeded, and the perverts. Oh, and the conspiracy nuts."

Rogue chatted lightly with Kitty, Jubilee, Bobby, Piotr, and Spyke for a time, then asked. "So, where's Remy? Oh, stupid question. At this hour he'd be asleep."

"Oh, um…" Kitty looked awkward.

"I don't know if Remy's going to come visit," Jubilee said softly. "They showed one of the videos on the late news, and uh, he kinda blew up the TV again."

"Ahh," Rogue replied thoughtfully.

"Yeah, those videos were pretty scary. We all thought… Well, it was hard not to think the worst," Kitty added.

"In fact," Bobby put in, "I'd say Remy was expressing what we were all feeling."

"Look, I could be wrong," Jubilee said. "He might come visit, but he spent all night in the Danger Room again, so I wouldn't get your hopes up."

Rogue nodded. "Thanks for letting me know."

Her friends left in due course, after having left a few things for her and picked up her things from the night before. Soon she was receiving visits from Lionel and his mother, Storm, Kurt, and Logan. As they spoke of the fight, Rogue caught Logan's eyes even as she repeated the sentiment that she'd been very lucky. Afterwards, Logan lingered until the others departed.

"There something you wanted to tell me?" he asked her.

"There was a telepath at the party. She saved me," Rogue replied. "She kept giving me these instructions on when to duck and move and attack and how."

"I see." Logan frowned.

"She asked me not to tell anyone about her. She said I could tell you though." Rogue smiled ruefully. "Probably smart of her. I can understand her desire for anonymity, but somehow I get the impression you didn't really believe whatever you saw in those videos."

Logan grunted. "That fight was out of your league."

"I know. Which is why I say the telepath saved my life." Rogue shook her head. "It all happened so quickly. I don't even remember getting shot or cut or anything. Just…just her voice, really. And even then, I don't think it was a case of me listening and responding. I think she had some control over me to get me to respond immediately to her instructions."

Logan nodded. "Adrenaline can do that too: get to you to respond faster, and probably accounts for you not noticing getting hurt."

"Well, that's true too, I guess. Either way…"

"Any idea who the telepath was?"

Rogue shook her head. "One of the women at the party, which would describe half the people there."

They spoke a little longer, and then Logan left.

Rogue got visits from some of the other party guests. Her room filled up with cards, flowers, and teddy bears. Then Morph dropped by with a new phone.

"Kitty moved the sim across and everything," Morph told her as he handed it over. "All went smoothly, so you can give that aunt of yours a call back."

Rogue nodded. "Thanks, I will."

"Any idea when they're releasing you?"

"No, not yet."

"Hmm." Morph sat down on the seat next to her. "We started advertising the Q&A yesterday before all this happened. You will not believe the number of questions which have been pouring in for you in the last 12 hours alone."

Rogue chuckled. "Yeah, I'll bet."

"I don't know if we should wait or not." Morph looked pensive. "I don't like the idea of delaying, but if you're not going to be there… And somehow I don't think we can shoot it in here." He looked around the hospital room, then grinned at her. "I'm deliberately not asking you how you are. I'm sure you're sick and tired of answering that question already."

Rogue laughed. "I am a bit. Look, why don't you just do the Q&A as scheduled, and if I can't make it, we can just film a second one when I'm out. But I doubt they're going to keep me here that long."

Morph nodded. "Okay."

They chatted a little longer, and then after he left, Rogue rang up Aunt Carrie.

"Sorry it took so long for me to return your call," Rogue said after they'd finished with the opening pleasantries. "I needed to get a new phone first."

"Oh? What happened to the old one? Was it damaged at the party last night?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah. It took a bullet for me. Literally. It was in my jacket pocket."

"Ah. If you don't mind my asking, just what are your injuries?"

"I was hit by several bullets, but most of them were grazes. There's been some nerve damage on my right arm. I have heaps of stitches, and my left ankle is sprained," Rogue replied. "And I lost a lot of blood apparently, so I've been getting a transfusion. Oh, and there's a gash on my right ankle. I guess that one Reaver who had blades out of his feet must've gotten me."

Carrie enquired for more details, which Rogue gave.

"Honestly, I was really, super, awesomely lucky," Rogue said with a yawn. "Oooh, pardon me."

"You're pardoned," Carrie replied. "Would you like me to come up?"

"Oh, um, thanks, but you don't have to. I'm being taken care of, and not just by my friends," Rogue said, shaking her head in bewilderment. "Someone at the party last night donates to this hospital and organised for me to get this private room. And the Galanos' are paying for it. I think some other people from last night are contributing to the bill too. There's even a police officer outside my door. Although I have to wonder about their effectiveness given the number of visitors I've had all day. Haven't even known half of them."

"Ah, a few too many visitors, hmm?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I've been catnapping between them."

"Yes, I bet you have. Well, I shall let you go, so hopefully you can get more than just a couple of minutes of sleep in," Carrie said. "But, please, keep me in the loop this time, sugar."

Rogue smiled. "Yeah, I will. I promise."

"Thank you."


	13. vs Gambit

**Chapter 13: vs Gambit**

Rogue stared at the wall between her bedroom and Gambit's. The huge hole that he'd blown into it months ago was gone. The drywall had been replaced and painted. She supposed it made sense: she had been in the hospital for a few days, which made it the ideal time for Gambit to fix the hole.

Except that the curtains had been taken down too.

Rogue set down the bag that held the rest of her things she'd had with her in hospital. Then, with the aid of the crutch she was using, she walked around to Gambit's door and knocked. There was no answer, though at this hour he would be asleep.

She slowly reached out for the doorknob and turned, and reluctantly pushed open the door.

The bedroom was empty.

Gambit hadn't just fixed the wall, he'd moved out.

Rogue turned her back and slammed the door on her way out. It wasn't that he'd moved out. She knew he was going to move out as soon as renovations on the old boathouse were done. It was the fact that he hadn't bothered to tell her. He hadn't even visited her once while she was in hospital. He hadn't even called her.

He was so lucky her ankle was sprained, or she'd march right down there and give him a piece of her mind. Fortunately for him, the distance to the old boathouse was further than she cared to walk today.

* * *

Kitty put down a plate of food in front of Rogue, and then sat down next to her with a plate of her own. It was dinner time, and between having to use a crutch, and not being allowed to do much with her nerve-damaged right arm, getting her own plate of food was a bit more than Rogue could handle.

"Thanks," Rogue said and leaned over to sniff at her food. "Hmm. Remy's on tonight, huh?"

"You're welcome," Kitty said as she picked up her fork. "And yeah, he is."

"Good. I love it when he's on," Rogue said.

"Don't we all?"

Rogue chuckled.

They ate and drank, but the seat Gambit usually occupied was never filled. That wasn't unusual if he'd been having a bad day, but Rogue couldn't help but feel disappointed. She hadn't seen him since before the party, and the empty room next to hers weighed heavily on her mind.

After dinner, Rogue made her way over to the breakfast nook. When she didn't see him in there, she had a look in the kitchen. There were a few students in there, the ones on clean up for the night.

"Hey, is Remy in here?" Rogue asked.

"No, sorry," Artie replied as he telekinetically loaded up the dishwasher.

"Ah. Thanks."

Sooner or later she was going to catch up with that swamp rat.

* * *

Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee, and Spyke sat down on the lounges on their set in the drama room. Morph sat on a lounge chair opposite, his appearance a caricature of a interviewer, complete with slicked back hair and impossibly white teeth. Several of Morph's entertainment business friends made up the crew, alongside a few students who were interested in the industry.

"Hello there," Morph said to the camera in a voice that matched his appearance, "and welcome to the X-Men Q&A. I'm your host, Morph, and with me are my guests: Iceman, Rogue, Jubilee, and Spyke. Let's hear it for them."

Canned applause was released.

"This is really cheesy, Morph," Bobby said. "And I know cheese."

"Good, good," Morph replied with a dazzling smile. "That's what I was going for. So, how are you all this evening?"

Rogue, whose left leg was sitting up on a footstool, and was still wearing several bandages on her arms and legs that were visible, said: "I've been better."

The others agreed that they were well.

"Okay, great," Morph said. "So, we originally announced this Q&A after the incident with the dragon in San Fransisco, and then mere days later, Rogue gets into a fight with a bunch of Reavers. So we've got two things we want to talk about and then we'll get to the questions." Morph held up a stack of cards that held their pre-screened questions. "Okay, so first, the dragon. The big thing that we should start with is, what were you guys doing in San Fransisco in the first place?"

"I had a family thing I needed to go to, and everyone else decided to come along and make a day of it," Rogue replied. "Although, I feel the need to point out that we do actually leave New York State occasionally."

From there they went on to discuss what happened. They didn't talk about everything: their conversation with Vange after was something they considered to be in confidence. Because Piotr, Warren and Gambit had both passed on the Q&A, they only mentioned they had a couple of other friends who helped out without naming any names or giving out too many details.

They kept things as brief as possible, then moved on to Rogue's fight with the Reavers, which was even briefer still. There wasn't much for Rogue to say beyond "most of it was a blur."

"Okay, and now for some questions from our viewers," Morph said, and picked up the first card off the deck. "Iceman: How is it you can fly?"

Bobby chuckled. "I can't fly. I create an ice slide out of whatever water sources might be available and zoom around on that. Cameras have a little trouble seeing water and ice though. In moves and stuff they have to mix milk with water so the camera can see it. So, yeah, that's why it looks like I'm flying on all that footage you can see. The only reason why you can make out my iceform is because, like everyone else, I'm 70% water. It's the 30% impurities that make me visible on camera."

"You heard it here first," Rogue said with a grin. "Iceman's 30% impure."

"Only 30%?" Jubilee said. "Go figure."

They giggled.

"Alright so, next question," Morph said cheerfully. "Jubilee, were you one of the mutants in the first Mutants vs Reavers fight?"

Jubilee blinked. "Oh, yeah, that was me. We hadn't already established that?"

"No, I don't think it's been outright stated," said Spyke.

"Huh. Well, yeah, that was me," Jubilee said cheerfully. "And since we've brought it up, I'd like to address all the people out there who have been criticising the use of my pafs because they might blind and/or deafen people. First of all, they missed 'burn people'. Second of all, I have this thing where I don't like to hurt people, so I actually went to a great deal of trouble to figure out how powerful I could make my pafs before they become a danger to people. And I warn people before I let any off too." Jubilee paused for a moment. "Well, most of the time anyway. Sometimes I get a little over-excited and let some off without meaning to, but they're usually just sparkles."

"And more on this topic," Morph said to the camera, "during our next series 'Controlling Mutant Abilities' which will follow the conclusion of our current series 'What are Mutant Abilities?'."

Jubilee grinned. "Shameless plug!"

Morph gave a dazzling smile. "Shame? Whatever is this 'shame' you speak of?"

"You know…" Spyke said slowly, "speaking of that first Mutants vs Reavers fight. Now that we know that the Reavers are a criminal syndicate that moonlights as disabled activists, them going after the gym makes so much more sense now."

"Why? Because they attacked a gym that was only accessible by a flight of stairs and one of their party needed a portable lift to even get up there?" Jubilee asked. "Yeah, I never got that either."

"Well, I still don't get it," said Bobby. "The gym owners are probably only renting the place. They can't make any structural changes to the building."

"Yeah, but that Reaver who confirmed Lionel's theory said that they will attack the same target multiple times," Rogue said. "Now, maybe the renters can't make structural changes, but eventually they're going to stop renting the place. And new renters aren't going to want to move in."

"Hmm," Bobby considered. "Good point. Then the owners have all these empty shops they can't rent to anyone."

"Yeah, I find the whole thing disappointing, really," Rogue said. "It shouldn't take disabled terrorism to make places accessible."

"And it explains the theatre too," Bobby went on thoughtfully. "All those doorways inside were narrow. And the only ramp was outside, which is why they shot up the front step."

"Haven't they restored the front step?" Jubilee asked.

They all looked at each other for a moment.

"The theatre might have some problems complying with the Reavers demands," Spyke said. "It is pretty old. It might be heritage listed or something."

"Or they're among those people who think that ramps are ugly and prefer to make people with wheelchairs, walkers, and other such things go around the back like they're second class citizens," Rogue drawled, then grinned when her friends all looked at her. "I have some strong, inherited opinions about these things. Besides, Professor Xavier had problems with this kind of stuff all the time."

"Professor Charles Xavier," Morph said to the camera. "Our beloved founder of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters used a wheelchair." His form switched to that of a caricature of a construction worker. "And you can tell they had to do some serious renovations about this place to make it wheelchair friendly."

"And just for the record," Rogue said to the camera with a smirk, "the ramps are gorgeous."

"That they are," Morph said, and picked up the next question as he shifted back into his host persona. "Alright, this one's for Spyke: Didn't you used to be a pro skate boarder?"

Spyke grinned. "Yeah, I did actually. The sponsorships dried up after I lost control of my powers and was exposed as a mutant. The competition runners weren't all that interested in letting me compete either. They told me it wouldn't be fair to the human competitors." Spyke rolled his eyes. "My mutation doesn't influence my skateboarding at all. At most it might, might, help prevent certain types of injuries. I need actual skill to ride a skateboard, just like anyone else."

Morph grinned knowingly at Spyke. "So, are we going to get to see you back on a skateboard?"

"Absolutely. I'm going to be putting up a new video in a couple of weeks," Spyke said smugly. "I am going to blow your minds."

"You can do some pretty cool stuff," said Jubilee.

"Yep, I know."

Morph picked up the next question. "Ah, yes, Rogue, this one's for you. It's actually pretty rude and I sorely considered refusing to ask this one, but then I decided," a pair of devil horns appeared on his head, "I really wanted to see your reaction."

Rogue gave Morph a dire look. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really. Ahem:" the devil horns disappeared. "Rogue, you're the only one on the team who doesn't have any mutant powers. Does that mean you're the token human?"

Bobby immediately jerked away. Jubilee looked at Rogue, horrified, and Spyke laughed at Bobby. Morph grinned at Rogue as she glared back at him.

"That's a ridiculous question. Mutants are humans. We're all humans," she said irritably.

"You know what they mean," Morph replied wickedly. "The token non-mutant."

Rogue opened her mouth to inform the asker and Morph just what they could do with their question, when a flash of inspiration came to her. Her eyes brightened as she spoke: "Well, I'm not the token non-mutant. I'm the token badass."

"Omigod!" Jubilee exclaimed as Bobby burst out laughing. "It's true! You are!"

"I can't argue with this," Spyke said, shaking his head. "You just took out five Reavers all by yourself. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two other people who could do that and they're badasses too."

"We should make that into a shirt," said Bobby. "The Token Badass." His face lit up. "Oh yessss, I'm gonna get right on that as soon as we've finished recording. We can ask P-ah, Colossus to do the artwork."

Morph looked at Bobby, then at the camera. "So, apparently you can expect to see X-Men merchandise soon. And now…" he reached for the pile of cards, "for the next question…"

* * *

"And that's that," Dr Ashton said as she removed the last of the stitches. "Everything looks good."

Rogue smiled. "That's good to know. Thanks."

"No problem." Dr Ashton gave a nod towards Rogue's right arm. "How's the arm? Still hurts?"

"Yeah, but I'm managing. The main thing is just remembering not to lift anything with it. Not that I could lift half the stuff I wanted to." Rogue shook her head ruefully. "Oh the months ahead while these nerves regrow are going to be so much fun."

Dr Ashton gave her a grin. "At least you don't need to use the crutch any more."

"Yep." Rogue looked down at her left ankle and flexed it. "And now I need to hunt down Remy."

* * *

Rogue strode down to the old boathouse. Thanks to Gambit and Logan's efforts, it now looked newer than the new boathouse. The only exception was the old jetty situated right in front of the door, which was clearly in need of some repairs.

She banged on the door with her left hand. She waited for a response and when there wasn't one soon enough for her tastes, she banged on the door again.

"Come on Remy," Rogue called. "I know you're in there."

The silence remained a little longer, and then the door opened. Gambit stood there, dressed in a pair of boxes with a dressing gown over the top. He pulled the robe closed.

"Hey chere," he said with a yawn. "What can I do for you?"

"You can explain why the hell you've been avoiding me ever since I went into hospital," she practically snarled at him. "Not a word, not a word all this time. And any time I did see you around the mansion since I got back, you've run off."

Gambit sighed. "I'm sorry, Rogue, but I can't hang around you any more."

"Why the hell not?" She demanded, even though deep down, she already knew.

"I've gotten too emotionally attached to you," he said. "Sooner or later you're going to get hurt."

"I'm already hurt."

"By me," he clarified.

"And you think that avoiding me without a word doesn't hurt me?" Rogue yelled.

Gambit sighed again. "I think that it makes no damn difference if I start avoiding you without a word, or if I speak to you first before avoiding you: we're going to end up fighting." He began to close the door. "I'm sorry, Rogue. Really, I am. But I can't do this."

"Oh no you don't," Rogue said as she shoved her left arm in the gap before Gambit could close the door completely. "No. Okay, I get it. You and I were pushing boundaries a lot. And believe me, I know just how much of a noisy neighbour you can be on a bad day."

"Chere—"

"I get why you had to move out here. I do! Really!" Rogue reached out with her right hand to take his. Her right arm was a lot weaker than it normally was thanks to the nerve damage, but she could at least do something as simple as holding Gambit's hand. "But call off our friendship? Tone down the flirting, sure, but…"

She sucked in her bottom lip and bit down on it, determined not to start crying.

Gambit looked steadfastly towards the door even as his thumb stroked her hand. "I wish that were possible. But it's too late for that. Like I said, I'm way too emotionally involved."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"It means that almost every time I have an incident these days, you're in the room," Gambit replied. "You can even check out my incident diary for yourself. You're almost always there, and I don't like those odds."

"I don't care about the odds."

"Well, I do. I have to. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you because of me. I can barely deal with it when something happens to you because of someone else," he said bitterly. "I'm… I'm falling for you, Rogue."

Rogue stared at him and barely noticed the warm, tingling sensation in her right hand.

"You're… you're what?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

He smiled faintly. "And this is why…" he trailed off and looked down at their joined hands. "Merde."

Rogue looked down as well. The tingling sensation was not her injury acting up again like she thought. Rather, her hand was glowing with a magenta light that continued to crawl up her bare arm.

"But, you can't charge living matter," Rogue said, confused.

Gambit was too busy stringing expletives to listen. He clutched her right hand with both of his. The charge continued to grow, little by little, past her wrist and up towards her elbow.

Rogue watching in disconnected disbelief. Then, as the charge continued up over her elbow, something clicked and she shook herself back into reality. She looked at Gambit and saw the strain in his face, the sweat on his brow, and the tears in his eyes.

He wasn't going to be able to remove the charge. No amount of recipe recitation was going to help him regain control of his emotions.

Rogue moved out of the doorway and backed towards the jetty. Gambit followed, not even seeming to notice. Then, once Rogue felt they were far enough away, she lifted up her arm away from her body.

"Wha—" Gambit began.

"Let go," Rogue said softly.

"What?" He gaped at her.

"Let go," Rogue said. "Please."

She would've jerked her hand free, but she didn't have the strength in her arm to do it.

With tears streaming down his face, Gambit released his left hand, "I'm sorry," and then his right.

Rogue's arm exploded.

She screamed.

* * *

Storm stood as the surgeon, Dr Cecilia Reyes, exited the medlab with Dr Ashton close by.

"How is she?" Storm asked.

"The surgery went well," Cecilia replied. "Just sleeping off the anaesthetic now. It's going to take a few months to heal."

"In the meantime, well, we'd already organised for physical therapy," Dr Ashton said with a shake of her head. "It never rains, but it pours."

"Indeed. I am about to go see Remy." Storm hesitated, then looked at Dr Ashton. "I have a feeling he is going to ask me for one of those vials of the Cure."

"You have vials of the Cure?" Cecilia asked, then held up her hands. "On second thoughts, don't answer that. I don't need to know. I should get going anyway."

"Thanks for your help, Cecilia," Storm said. "It is most appreciated."

* * *

Rogue stared at the stump below her shoulder which was all that was left of her right arm. She knew it was gone. She could see quite well that it wasn't there. She remembered losing it quite clearly. And yet, she could still feel it. She supposed it must be that phantom sensation she'd heard about.

The door opened and Rogue glanced up to see Logan come in.

"Hey kid," he said as he stopped at the side of her bed. "How you feeling?"

"Like I still have an arm," she replied, and frowned a little. "Sleepy, and a little woozy from the painkillers. Also, tired of being put on painkillers."

"Heh. Wish I could sympathise," Logan said. "But the only part I can really relate to is the 'getting blown up by Gambit' part. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Yep, me too," Rogue said. "I'm sure I'm gonna feel even sorrier when these painkillers wear off." She flexed her left hand. "Hello new dominant hand."

Logan grunted.

"I should probably call Aunt Carrie. She'd probably like to know," Rogue went on musingly. "Plus she knows allllll about this stuff. Hey, hey Logan?"

"Yeah, darlin'?"

"Do you think I was stupid?"

He gave her a long look. "I never think you're stupid, darlin'."

"But it was stupid to go hunt down Remy, wasn't it?" Rogue sighed. "It wasn't like I didn't already know he was moving out into the old boathouse 'cause of me. Shouldn't have gone looking for him, no matter how mad I was at him for avoiding me."

"Look, Rogue," Logan said, holding her gaze. "What happened was an accident. Maybe it was avoidable, maybe it wasn't. There's no point in assigning blame."

"I could've just not gone," Rogue said woefully. "I could've just let things be. I could've…"

Logan sighed. He sensed he was going to have to repeat himself later.

"You could've done a lot of things. And Remy could've spoken to you or left a message or something. There's lots of things both of you could've done to avoid your arm getting blown up," Logan cut in firmly. "Doesn't matter now. What's done is done. Mostly I'm just relieved that Remy didn't find out he could charge living tissue by killing someone."

Rogue frowned.

"Only person around this place that can 100% survive his explosions is me," Logan went on grimly. "And there's no guarantee that I would've been the one he charged up if he hadn't blown up your arm."

Rogue was silent for a good long moment.

"No," she said woefully. "No, it was probably always going to me." Tears began to prick at her eyes. "He said he was too emotionally attached. He said he was falling for me…"

"Or maybe Pyro would've pissed him off again," Logan said and wrapped his arm around her. "Look, Rogue, we can analyse the crap outta this mess until the cows come home. Ain't gonna change what happened. Ain't gonna change what comes next either. And you know what's coming next, right?"

Rogue sniffed and looked up at him. She sighed.

"A whole heap of hard work," she said.

"Right. And you're gonna get angry and frustrated, and probably take it out on everyone around you. But when you come out the other side," and Logan threw her a knowing smile, "you're going to be an even bigger badass than you are now. "

Rogue smiled despite herself. The tears began to drip down her cheeks. Logan moved in closer and gave her a long, much needed hug.

* * *

 **End**

 **To be Continued in "Of Cures and Reavers".** The first chapter of this 3-part follow up story will be posted next week. It was originally going to be a one-shot, but it ended up being longer than I expected. I'm sure you're all devastated ;)


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